A meeting of creditors has been called for 27 June, at which a liquidator is expected to be appointed to Leeds-based Ecoat Finish.

The company's website has been closed and its phone line is dead, while emails to Crake's Ecoat account are bouncing back.

He has not responded to calls to his mobile phone in the last few days, but when PrintWeek spoke to Crake two weeks ago he said he was nearing his print exit, although at the time he denied his company would close.

Ecoat's flagship machine, a Heidelberg CD 102, has been sold by the finance company to local finisher Alpha Media Solutions. Managing director Ian Whitfield told PrintWeek that the machine was in the process of being relocated.

Best Cover has had a roller coaster ride since its formation in 2005. It added a second facility in London in late 2006 before two further sites were gained when it picked up Celloglas's Manchester and Bristol facilities in February 2009.

However, things went downhill from there: the Manchester site lasted barely three months before closing at the end of May 2009 and London followed that August. 

In April 2010 both Best Cover UV and Best Cover (Bristol) were bought out of administration by Crake, through new company Best Cover UK, drawing the scorn of the industry.

Six months later Crake closed the general finishing arm, concentrating on the specialist coatings side he had started back in 2006.

However, this did not stem the tide and the Bristol facility, which was now known as Protectoprint, closed its doors in March this year.