A RESCUE package is under way to save one of Hampshire's oldest printers from going to the wall with the loss of 32 jobs, the Daily Echo can reveal.

business recovery experts have come up with a compromise plan that would see scores of creditors across the south, owed nearly £1.3m between them, paid 21p for every £1 outstanding.

The alternative is liquidation.

As previously reported, the future of 200-year-old Brown & Son hangs in the balance after it was hit with several broadsides. Problems with orders, coupled with rapid expansion geared at a turnover of £5m, placed a severe strain on cash flow.

In a bid to slash costs, 22 staff in Ringwood were laid off earlier this year and a new printing operation in Ferndown, near Bournemouth, was closed. Since then trading has continued, with loyal staff agreeing to carry on working without payment.

Southampton based recovery experts RogersEvans were brought in after £150,000 of working capital needed to keep Brown & Son afloat could not be found.

According to RogersEvans, the core business at Ringwood is viable, with a profit of £42,520 expected to be made for this year.

The family-run firm at Crow Arch Lane, which has big-name clients like the RNLI and Oxford University Press, is owned by husband and wife directors Malcolm and Miriam Kennedy.

Under the rescue package proposal, known as a company voluntary arrangement, Brown & Son will make contributions from future profits, totalling £300,000, over 60 months.

It is understood that Mr Kennedy intends pumping in £64,000 to help tide matters over, and he is deferring a dividend claim of nearly £17,900.

Mr Kennedy said: "We are trying to save a 200-year-old company and 32 jobs, and we cannot do without the support of our creditors.

"We have a got a viable business if we are allowed to continue."

The creditors' meeting will be held at Lyndhurst Park Hotel, Lyndhurst, at 2.30pm on Thursday, March 24, followed by a meeting of shareholders.