Almost all 40 employees at a children's arts and crafts maker have been made redundant after a search to find a new owner failed.
Founded in 1973, Brian Clegg supplied both retail and educational markets across England and Wales and operated from one unit in Rochdale and another in Middleton.
Specialist business advisory firm FRP said the business had been "loss making for some time and suffered from sustained cashflow pressure from rising input prices".
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FRP said an "accelerated merger and acquisition process" was conducted in recent months but, without a viable offer, the business was placed into administration.
Anthony Collier and Richard Goodall of were appointed as joint administrators to Brian Clegg (Educational Products) Limited on Wednesday, February 8.
A small group of staff have been retained by the joint administrators to assist with their duties as they complete the winding up of Brian Clegg.
Mr Collier said: "Brian Clegg was a well-established business with its products used in nurseries and schools across the UK.
"Unfortunately, the business was no longer sustainable in its current form and, as a consequence, has ceased to trade. We will now explore options for a sale of the residual business and assets.
"We will continue to provide support to impacted staff and will work with them to make applications to the Redundancy Payments Service."
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