The commercial printer’s directors convened a meeting of creditors on 23 January at which it was decided that the company should enter voluntary liquidation. Clive Everitt of insolvency practitioner Shaw Gibbs was appointed as liquidator on 1 February.

The Reading-based company ceased trading on 11 January ahead of the meeting, when all five of its staff were made redundant.

Everitt said that this had led to a number of sales enquiries about its kit that were referred to specialist agents.

MRM Associates’ finance company repossessed two Heidelberg presses and a guillotine, which it had loaned "very substantial funds" for the printer to buy, Everitt claimed.

The remaining kit has been sold to local printer Letterworks, where MRM Associates director Martin Marwood, who has known its director Karen and David Brown for around 25 years, has been working in an unofficial capacity following the closure of MRM.

Marwood is not currently employed by Letterworks, but there was a "reasonable chance" of this happening in the near future, according to Karen Brown.

She said the company was not in a position to take on MRM Associates’ remaining ex-employees for the time being, which was made clear when they took on the assets.

Brown added: "We had an opportunity and we took it, it was purely a business transaction. We haven’t been involved in any of the historical events of the company.

"I feel bad for the staff... but Martin is certainly not a ‘close on the Friday, start on the Monday’ type. His business was there for a long time making a living for him and his staff."

Marwood added: "Like every printer in the UK, [the market] has been tough, and it came to a head.

"I was happy to put more money into the business but I needed to merge with another company. [When that didn't happen] I had no real alternative but to close."

Everitt said there was "no prospect" of unsecured creditors receiving any repayment from the 30-year-old company, which he claimed had debts of around £150,000 at the time of their demise.

Everitt said that the business had fallen into trouble due to the market developments, which meant companies previously suited as MRM Associates customers began to produce print work in-house. MRM Associates dubbed itself "one of the UK's foremost fragrance printers", supplying aroma varnishes to a number of customers.

He concluded that the collapse of MRM Associates had come about from "a combination of the changing market and a decline in trading due to the recession."