A digital printing company has been rescued from administration at the eleventh hour by the son of its former boss – saving 10 jobs.

ESP Technologies Group – which makes signage, hoardings and window graphics – was sold this month after it fell into difficulties following the loss of a national contract last year.

The Aylesford-based business, founded in 1993, suffered a significant drop in turnover in the first three months of 2017.

After receiving no interest from unconnected parties, the firm was bought for an undisclosed sum by Mattech Enterprises, owned by Matthew Hood, its former technical manager and son of ESP’s founder Stephen.

He stepped in to save the firm, which had seen many of its assets written down by up to 70%, despite some machines only being bought 15 months earlier.

The sale – known as a pre-pack administration – was described as a “good outcome for stakeholders” by administrator Andrew Pear of BM Advisory.

He said it also continued the firm’s service “to a number of loyal national customers”.

Stephen Hood, who lives in Surrey, said: “Looking for a buyer was very traumatic and happened on the week I reached my 65th birthday. I wondered if someone was trying to give me a hint.

“I thought it might go to an unfriendly competitor so to keep an interest in the family was a surprising outcome.”

Despite its financial difficulties, ESP remained attractive thanks to the recent growth of printing on plastics and PVC, which is the focus of the business.

Printing on non-paper materials is projected to grow over the next five years and anticipated to account for 14.2% of industry revenue this year.

Unlike other segments, its products do not face competition from online alternatives.

The firm has spent £2 million on new equipment in the last four years and bought the first “direct to substrate” digital printer in the world in 2002.

To save money, the company is vacating one of the three business units it occupies on the Deacon Industrial Estate.

Mr Hood, who will continue to work in the business under his 36-year-old son, but not as a director, added: “I’m very excited. We have always been at the forefront of technology and I feel very optimistic.”