Simpson Group chairman Mark Simpson said the first signs that Borders could be heading for administration only appeared at the weekend when it emerged that a number of major distributors had stopped supplying the company.

Following the announcement today that Borders UK had filed notice of its intention to appoint BDO Stoy Hayward as administrator, Simpson said: "We've been getting payments very quickly so there's been no warning signs up until this last weekend."

Washington, Tyne and Wear-based Simpson Group, which was appointed to manage all print and PoS material for Borders UK in July, said that the company had been among the faster payers in the UK's troubled retail sector.

"They've been paying us to 30 days and often faster than that – we've been getting paid on a weekly basis," Simpson said.

"We put in place fairly stringent credit terms following the last restructure in August, so when we found out last weekend that they were on the brink of administration that was the first we had heard."

Borders UK, which employs around 1,000 staff across its 45 UK retail stores, looks set to become the latest high-street casualty of the recession, which has already claimed the likes of Woolworths, Zavvi (formerly Virgin Megastores) and MFI.

"It's a tough market and, to a certain extent, you've got to take it on the chin, because over the past 12 months a lot of retail businesses have been struggling," said Simpson.

"You've got to be careful of the customers you're dealing with – we're fortunate to have a lot of good blue-chip customers who pay very very well but there's always a percentage in this market that are going to be more difficult."