The firm was placed into administration with UHY Hacker Young partners Peter Kubik, Andrew Andronikou and Ladis Lavhornan on Monday (21 November) by director Leonard Wheatley.

"I'm pleased we were able to save the business and 40 jobs," said Kubik. "There were several interested parties that wanted to take the sales and cherry pick the assets, Sage was the only one who wanted to take it as a whole."

"This is a Cinderella story for me, it's the stuff dreams are made of," said Sage of the chance to buy the firm where he started his career in the finishing department 17 years ago.

Sage said that he always planned a return to print following his departure from Wace in December 2003.

Sage's purchase of the firm concludes a torrid fortnight that included the departure of managing director Mike Wells to rival R&A firm Royle Corporate Print. Wells left the firm last week after Wheatley made eight redundancies without consulting him.

Wheatley declined to comment. He has also recently resigned as a director of city print firm Chris Fowler International, although he retains a small stake in the firm.