A meeting took place last night between the administrators, Unite and the workforce to announce the closure, which was decided after a buyer could not be found, PrintWeek can reveal.

Administrator Ian Best of Ernst & Young said: "Quebecor World has been continuing to trade for approximately two weeks with a view to finding a going concern buyer for the business, but unfortunately it has become clear that the focus of interested parties is on the assets of the business.

"The business was losing £4 million per annum before the appointment of the joint administrators, with losses in January and February particularly heavy. This level of losses cannot be sustained any longer."

He added that more than 250 redundancies would be made as a result of the decision with a small team remaining for a period of weeks.

Tony Burke, assistant secretary general of Unite's print sector, said: "We are hugely disappointed with this news. We had worked hard to find a buyer but, as customers were beginning to pull their work, the decision was taken to close the site.

"It is a bitter blow for the workers and their families, a bitter blow for UK manufacturing, and a bitter blow for Corby as a whole."

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