The company is not answering its phones and a planned meeting between directors and staff today (Thursday 15 January) was cancelled at the last minute, leaving around 60 employees locked out of the company.

Former Howard Hunt Direct managing director Michael Bennett bought Yale Press in November 2002.

The companys last audited accounts for the 12 months to 31 October 2002, before Bennett took over, show the company made a loss of 15,000 on a turnover of 5.5m.

In its previous set of accounts for 2001 it made a profit of 245,000 on a turnover of 6.1m.

Yale Press operates two five-colour B1 Heidelberg Speedmasters and is believed to have just bought a second-hand two-colour Speedmaster that is still in its packing cases.

by Tony Brown