Daily Sport and Sunday Sport cease publication after parent company folds

The Daily Sport and Sunday Sport will not be published this weekend and face closure, after their parent company ceased trading on Friday and called in administrators.

Sport Media Group has ceased trading, after suspending trading on the stockmarket earlier on Friday. SMG admitted that an "insufficient recovery" since the poor weather that slammed sales in December, had left it cash-strapped and "uncertain of support" from its bank.

The Daily Sport will not appear on newsstands tomorrow, with printing halted for an indefinite period of time. SMG, which is believed to have about 100 staff, is in the process of appointing an administrator which will seek to sell, or close, the operation.

If no buyer is found, it will be the first closure of a UK national newspaper since News International folded midmarket tabloid Today in November 1995.

The Sunday Sport was first published in 1986, soon establishing its downmarket reputation with an editorial mix of wacky stories – "World War 2 bomber found on moon" – and pictures of large-chested models. A daily version followed in 1991.

"The company announces that as a result of its inability to meet certain creditors as they fall due, the company has today ceased trading with immediate effect," said SMG in a statement.

SMG, which in 2009 was saved from going out of business by former proprietor and West Ham co-owner David Sullivan, had looked like it might have survived the downturn after last month forecasting earnings to be "in excess" of £1m for the year and securing funding through to March 2013.

However, the poor weather in November and December hammered circulation and led to a squeeze on the working capital at SMG's disposal, leading to crisis talks with its bank, RBS, on Friday.

Circulation of the titles peaked in 2005 with the daily at 189,473, the Saturday edition at 110,785 and the Sunday Sport at 167,473.

When SMG took over the company in 2007 it hired Loaded founder James Brown as "consultant editor-in-chief" to help move the title from "sleazy to sexy" and recapture a "bit of the reckless fun of their early days".

However, by 2009 SMG took the decision to withdraw its titles from the official newspaper industry monthly circulation audit after suffering massive declines in sales that left each title with a circulation approaching just one-third of peak levels.

In February of the same year the company unsuccessfully tried to sell the business after receiving "a number of unsolicited approaches".

To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".