TPF stressed that, while net current liabilities did indeed stand at £10.2m on 31 December 2009, this figure excludes items such as land, property and plant owned by the group. The group-wide net liability position at this date was considerably less, at £5.5m.

In addition, the group's owners said that the Northampton-based print manager has made significant progress over the past week in its bid to secure the future of the company as a going concern.

Its ability to do so hinged on a number of key challenges, as outlined in yesterday's article (4 February), which the company has claimed it is already very close to resolving.

Bruce Gordon, founder of TPF's new majority stakeholder Thames Valley Capital, said: "I can confirm that we've made excellent progress over the past week in addressing the key challenges facing the business.

"I'm confident that the worst is now behind TPF and that the conditions are now in place to enable the business to successfully implement its recovery plan."

Steve Brundle, TPF Group chief executive, added: "For the first time in a very long time, I feel we can start looking forwards instead of back.

"In common with the rest of the industry, the past two years have undoubtedly been the toughest we’ve ever experienced. We’ve had to close a number of factories and every member of staff has taken a pay cut. However, we’ve definitely now turned the corner, having just had our third profitable month in a row.

"We wouldn’t have got through this without the terrific loyalty shown by our superb clients and suppliers and I also want to pay tribute to the whole TPF team for their hard work and resilience over the past couple of years."