One of Kent’s oldest printing companies has the potential to “grow back into a good business again” according to bosses who rescued it from administration.

Troubled firm Headley Brothers was sold to Oxfordshire print business Henry Stones hours after tumbling into administration on March 2, in a deal which will rescue 113 jobs.

However, the Ashford firm had already made 85 staff redundant after putting itself up for sale in January following spiralling losses of £1.8m in 2015.

Founded in 1881, the Headley Brothers name will disappear but it is unclear what its new trading name will be.

Bosses at its new owner Stones Ashford, a newly-created subsidiary of Henry Stones, told Kent Business they have had their eye on the business for a while.

Managing director Richard Walsh said: “It has always been a well-established company and a key player in the print industry.

“We are not hugely aggressive in the market place but Headley was in a good location and is a good business.

“We have been keeping an eye on it for some time and then things moved fast.

“It has the potential to grow back into a good business again.

“It needs a period of stability and strong management which can drive it forward again.”

The majority of shares in Headley Brothers had been owned by the Pitt family, which had run the firm for several generations.

Its former managing director Roger Pitt, who was chairman until last year, had left the business before the sale plans were announced.

New owners Mr Walsh and his colleagues Mark Scurr and Steve Ottley were able to become its saviours after a rapid rise to prominence in the industry.

In June last year, the trio engineered a management buyout of parts of Polestar Group, then the UK’s largest independent printing company, after it fell into administration.

They took control of sheetfed printer Stones in Banbury and book printer Wheatons in Exeter, with the backing of venture capital firm Thames Valley Capital.

The company also funded the Headley Brothers deal, known as a pre-pack administration.

Steve Adshead, partner at Smith & Williamson, which handled the sale, said: “Headley Brothers was a well-established business with a strong customer base.

"Regrettably, Headley Brothers had to make a number of redundancies in February following the sudden loss of its largest customer which accounted for about 25% of production output.

“However, we are pleased to have reached a favourable conclusion by achieving our aim of finding a buyer able to take the business forward as a going concern and safeguard 113 jobs.”

It is unclear what will be the future of Simon Bingham, managing director of Headley Brothers when it fell into administration.

Headley Brothers was founded by brothers Herbert and Burgess Headley to print paper bags, bill heads and circulars for Ashford businesses.

The venture was such a success the brothers decided to launch a newspaper, releasing the Kent Examiner & Ashford Chronicle with Barham Boorman, who was also founder of the Kent Messenger.

The business has been based on the same site in Queens Road, known as the Invicta Press, since a fire burned down its factory in Edinburgh Road in 1906.