Geoff Bouchier and Andrew Stoddard, of insolvency practitioner MCR, were appointed as joint administrators of Cavendish Press yesterday afternoon (24 June). Richmond Press is unaffected by the administration.

According to Bouchier, 15 employees were made redundant by MCR this morning. However, he told PrintWeek that 23 redundancies had been made three to four weeks prior to his appointment.

Unite confirmed that a number of staff were let go on 4 June. Rose Mooney, Unite regional officer, said the union would be taking action against the initial redundancies because, according to Mooney, no consultation took place with employees.

"The guys are totally devastated," she said. "Some of them are very long-time employees and the manner in which this has been done, the way they have been treated, leaves a very sour taste in the mouth."

According to Bouchier, Cavendish Press has struggled since it was acquired by Kübe two years ago but, in recent weeks, turnover dropped off and it began to "struggle with purchasing", which eventually led to MCR being called in.

He added: "We will be looking to realise whatever there may be in terms of assets, but there does not seem to be much as most of the assets used were Richmond owned. There is a customer list and we will look to realise that."

In January this year, it was reported that Richmond Cavendish had a turnover of £8.8m and employed 78 staff. Bouchier said he believed around £3m of the turnover would have been Cavenish Press's. It is unclear what the make-up of staff was between the two companies.

Kübe was unavailable for comment as PrintWeek went to press.