The £5.5m-turnover company called in Beevers and Struthers on 12 February with the firm due to be appointed as liquidators on 3 March.

Beevers and Struthers has reported that there are 12 parties interested in the assets of the business but said that there is "an expectation" that local rival Paramount Print Group will buy the assets. Paramount Print Group is currently running the business under a lease agreement.

Charles MacMilllan, corporate recovery partner at Beever and Struthers, said:  "We have avoided a pre-pack administration as it is not possible to attribute fair value to the business within the tight timescale, and the process would therefore not have been transparent.

"There are currently 12 interested parties and although there is an expectation that Paramount Print will acquire the assets we are continuing to negotiate with several parties and this is not yet a done deal.

"If negotiations on 3 March are successful, we will be able to save the jobs..of staff currently employed by Kelvin Print."

Kelvin managing director David Hodgson told PrintWeek that many of his employees were hoping that Paramount would take over the company, of which he has been managing director for 27 years.

He said: "The staff would like that. It will make us much stronger, it will create a £10m company. We are both in B2, although we are in B1 as well. We have Indigo kit, they have Xerox. So it will be a good marriage across the board.

"I have great respect for [Paramount managing director] Geraint Williams as a businessman and he has a great vision for the company going forward. Hopefully he can take the company from strength to strength."

He added that it was a "very, very sad occasion" but there was no other option for the firm but to call in the liquidators. "This is a decision I had to take," he said.

All of Kelvin's 65 staff remain in place at this point. Williams was unavailable for comment at the time of writing.