The Manchester-based commercial printer appointed Gary Lee of Begbies Traynor after it ceased trading on Friday (6 March) afternoon. It had spent months looking for a buyer without success.

Lee said: "Carlton faced a number of problems, including bad debts and an overhead base too large to support its turnover. This, combined with the current trading conditions, caused its downfall."Carlton Press has an annual turnover of £6m and was 287th in PrintWeek's Top 500 2008. It printed items including football programmes and flyers for financial institutions.

Lee said: "This receivership is unfortunately symptomatic of the entire printing industry, which is one of the many casualties of the economic downturn. Carlton Press has recently suffered from a significant level of bad debt which has affected its cash requirements.

"Over the last few days we have been in talks with a number of parties to try and find a buyer for the company. Although Carlton Press is well-established and has a significant client base, no deal was agreed.

"We are now inviting interested parties to put forward offers for the company’s remaining stock, customer list, order book and goodwill."

In 2002, Carlton Press bought the goodwill and assets of Carlton Offset, the Beckenham-based printer that fell into administrative receivership after ITV Digital’s collapse.

See also:

Carlton Offset brings in administrative receivers