A long-established shop-fitting company based in Suffolk has ceased trading with the loss of seven jobs.

Jas. C. Flaxman & Sons, based at Lindsey, near Hadleigh, went into administration earlier this month following an “orderly wind-down” of the business, which had already seen its employees given notice in March.

Andrew Kelsall of regional accountancy firm Larking Gowen, who is acting as joint administrator together with colleague Lee Green, said that the family-owned firm, which was first incorporated in 1921, had traded successfully for many years, working on shop interiors for national retail brands.

More recently, however, it had been affected by a number of factors including reduced profit margins, slower payments from main contractors for and a quality control issue with a contractor for which had started to work recently.

Mr Kelsall said that the company’s accounts for the year to December 31, 2015, showed an operating loss of around £500,000 on turnover of just over £19m.

However, the business had been profitable up to the previous year and at the end of 2015 it still had net assets of more than £600,000, despite the annual trading loss.

Mr Kelsall said it had been necessary to put the business into administration for the protection of its assets and of all its creditors, and the company had ceased trading at this point.

However, he added: “The directors are responsible people and there has been an orderly wind-down of the business. We are expecting that there will be a significant distribution for creditors.”

A proposal was currently being worked on and creditors should receive details in “the next couple of weeks”, said Mr Kelsall.

An annual return filed at Companies House last August names Gareth Gray as the largest shareholder in the company, with the remaining shares owned by Richard Gray, Heather Gray, Elizabeth Gray and Jane Gray.