Secured creditors were owed around £9.3m, including £6.9m owed to Eurofactor (UK), while unsecured creditors were owed around £18.7m, of which £10.5m was owed to trade creditors.

One printer, which is owed a five figure sum by TPF, told PrintWeek: "A company doesn't go owing that much money without long standing signs that something is wrong. That kind of loss doesn't just happen.

"Towards the end, they were telling people to ‘work with us'. Only they know if they were stringing people along or whether they genuinely thought there was a chance to save the business."

Some of the largest creditors were Masons Paper  (£793,099), Image Link Supplies (£267,834), Stehlin Hostag (£186,653) and Xerox (£167,708). Administrators' costs stood at £543,832 as of 7 April.

Meanwhile, TPF was owed around £9.5m from debtors (excluding intercompany), of which the administrators expect to recover approximately £5.9m.

According to the administrators' letter, TPF had built up arrears with HMRC in excess of £4.5m, which ultimately led to KPMG'S appointment on 17 February.

Following KPMG's appointment, the print management business was sold to AccessPlus for £530,962, Reelform was sold to McCorquodale 2005 (UK) for £60,410, while TPF went to Flair Press (UK), which is currently trading as Lexicon Press, for £851,416.

It also emerged in the report that attempts were made to sell the firm, prior to the administration, focusing on distressed-asset venture capital houses. However, due to the lack of "reliable financial information and substantial creditor arrears no investment was forthcoming".
The administrator was told by the directors not to approach trade buyers prior to their appointment as there was a risk competitors could "approach and unsettle" key customers by convincing them to move work away.
Once it had gone into administration, 19 expressions of interest were made for the company, leading to two written offers from former management-led teams.
In the financial year leading up to its administration, the 18 months ended December 2009, the group had sales of £65m, but after restructuring costs it made a loss of £8.4m.