The Sheffield-based commercial and direct mail printer successfully agreed a Corporate Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) with creditors after it was deemed insolvent last October.

However, the struggling company was unable to stay afloat and was forced to call in administrators BWC Business Solutions on 15 August.

Joint administrator Paul Whitwam told PrintWeek that an "off the shelf company", owned by PPS, bought the direct mail side of the business the same day that Charisma went into administration.

He said: "It's related to an outfit called Progressive Print Solutions, which is based in Leeds. It's not associated at all with the company directors, it's another printing company."

The deal saved the jobs of 34 of the company's 50 staff, although the remaining 16 employees were made redundant as BWC closed Charisma's print works.

Charisma Colourprint recorded a pre-tax loss of £134,000 on a turnover of £5.4m in its latest accounts to December 2006.

The company was founded in 1988 to provide colour sheetfed print services. In 2000 it was bought by an MBI team who added direct mail services to the business.