Having given up on hopes of a sale, administrators of the former manroland AG plant in Plauen, Germany, say its closure is inevitable.

Although the post-administration manroland web systems business – now owned by the Possehl group – had subcontracted an amount of work as a lifeline to the plant, staff were told before Christmas that the plant in east-central Saxony would close.

Werner Schneider of administrators Schneider Geiwitz & Partner said the move followed more than a year of trading in a difficult market environment in the bankruptcy. “This is due to a sustained loss situation due to low demand and the ultimate failure of the sale negotiations with the last remaining investor,” he said.

Employees were told of the situation and plans for coming weeks at a staff meeting on December 19.

Schneider sees the low utilisation of the plant as the reason for the failure of the sale negotiations. “The deteriorating economic conditions – especially in the printing industry – have exacerbated the situation,” he said. His team had made “far-reaching concessions” and remaining employees had agreed to cuts. “Nevertheless, ultimately, after weeks of negotiations, an agreement is not possible.”

The focus now turns to finding jobs for the remaining staff and potentially developing an industrial park, for which Schneider says there is a “legitimate chance” of success.

For the employees affected by the closure by the receivership an employment company will be established for a period of probably six months.

At the World Publishing Expo in October, Peter Kuisle a board member of the new Possehl-owned web systems company, said he was keen to do everything possible to help Plauen find a buyer, “but not to the extent of sacrificing (our own company)”.

Widely-used single-width newspaper presses including the Uniset and Cromoman – now built in Augsburg – are part of the Plauen heritage, of which the former Plamag business celebrated the twentieth anniversary of its association with manroland in 2009.