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It follows an announcement by the company this week that it was seeking to raise money from a rights issue or a private equity sale to shore up its balance sheet.

One private equity source said: 鈥淭hey will struggle. I really can鈥檛 see what appetite private equity would have for a retail fit-out company, given the state of the market.鈥�

The company was formerly run by private equity group Spirit Capital, which floated it in November 2006. It is understood not to be seeking to return to the firm.

The company鈥檚 statement to the stock exchange said: 鈥淭here can be no certainty that an offer will be made, nor as to the terms on which any offer may be made, nor that it will be successful in raising any additional equity capital.鈥�

In June 2008, Neil Davies, the former chief executive, and Gerard Quiligotti, former chairman, left the company after a failed private equity-backed management buyout. The departures came in the middle of two profit warnings in five weeks.

The failure of the 125p-per-share buyout was due to a lack of funding. Since then the market has deteriorated further and at the close of trading on Tuesday, the company鈥檚 share price was 7p.