Joint administrator Peter Kubik, from UHY Hacker Young, said Taylowe was placed into administration yesterday (20 December).

Taylowe, which employed 80 staff at its site in Furze Platt, Maidenhead, will run a skeleton workforce of 20 as it winds down operations until the end of the week.

The company's assets, including printing equipment, will be sold while its premises will be handed back to the landlord.

Taylowe sold its Colgate design rights a few months ago, before Colgate moved its packaging manufacture to mainland Europe.

Kubik acknowledged that the timing of the firm's fall into administration was "unfortunate and very sad" for staff.

CT Packaging was formed in December 2005 when Angus Steel and Alan Barnett purchased Taylowe in a management buyout from TP8, a subsidiary of TP3, formerly Thomas Potts Prontaprint.

TP3 acquired Taylowe in September 2005 as part of a £7.5m deal for Boxstar, which comprised the former packaging businesses of printing group Polestar.