The company was formed by Neil Alderson last November, with backing from Peter Alderson and Neil’s father Ron Alderson. The company hoped to retain some of the business of the failed £31m group it emerged from and was targeting sales of around £4m in its first year.

However, according to Carl Jackson, partner at restructuring specialist Quantuma, who has been advising the directors, the volume of sales never materialised and it effectively closed last Friday (28 June) with the staff, totalling around 12, made redundant the same day.

"They built a business plan based on an expected turnover of around £4m and geared themselves up overhead-wise to deliver that sort of turnover. Unfortunately, it was nowhere near that level, I think it would only have achieved £1m. So they made significant losses and decided to throw in the towel," said Jackson.

He added that there would be "no phoenix" and that the majority of the assets were leased and the only asset of the business was, in effect, its ledger and, as a result, there was unlikely to be any dividend for creditors.

However, he said that the creditor list wasn’t extensive and that the largest creditors were members of the Alderson family, who had "put significant funds in to provide working capital".

A meeting of creditors has been called for next Friday (12 July) and the company is expected to be placed directly into liquidation. Quantuma is likely to be appointed liquidator at the meeting.

"There will be no attempt to restructure the business, because the reality is that there is nothing there to restructure. It’s a liquidation, and the company will cease trading," added Jackson.

When contacted by PrintWeek, Neil Alderson declined to comment on the status of Centrical.

Centrical operated from one of the former Alderson Print Group units in Molesey, which was leased from the Aldersons' pension scheme.

The Alderson Group companies, Alderson Brothers Printers, Alderson Digital London, Alderson Point of Sale and Don Dawson PLC fell into administration on 14 September 2012 and ceased trading on 16 October. The companies, along with APB Web, which fell into administration on 31 August 2012, owed £5.1m at the time of their collapse.