Troubled printing firm Headley Brothers is poised to announce a sale - but signage for the historic business has been removed from its premises.

The family-owned printing business, which was founded in 1881, is thought to have agreed a deal after putting itself on the market in January.

Last month the company revealed it will halve its workforce with 85 redundancies as it contends with losses which reached £1.8 million in its latest unpublished accounts.

Steve Adshead, a partner at Smith & Williamson, which is handling the sale, told Print Week: “A deal has been agreed and is in the process of being finalised. It should be completed today.”

A photograph taken this morning, sent in to KentOnline, shows all Headley signage has been taken down from the building on Queens Road.

A deal would likely end the grip of the Pitt family on Headley Brothers, its major shareholders, which had run the firm for several generations.

Its former managing director Roger Pitt, who was chairman until last year, is no longer a director at the business.

The company prints for a range of magazines and niche publications on the latest sheet-fed, web and digital printing presses.

Its accounts for 2015 are two months overdue but Smith and Williamson said losses were suffered the company took a £1.4 million hit from ceasing some operations during a company restructure, despite sales of £19.3 million.

Its most recently available accounts show it had revenues of £19.5 million in the year to December 2014 and made pre-tax losses of £474,000.

The company 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.