A marketing firm that represented former Ireland football manager Mick McCarthy and several major Irish companies has ceased trading following a downturn in business.

Watermarque Marketing Communications, which has represented a range of clients, including An Post, Diageo, ESB, Glanbia and the Star newspaper, is holding a creditors meeting next week when a liquidator is expected to be appointed.

The company's managing director Liam Gaskin said yesterday that, with regret, the business would no longer be trading. Mr Gaskin is a well-known figure in marketing, but is also familiar to sports people through his work as agent for Mick McCarthy. He is expected to continue this work in a personal capacity. Mr McCarthy was recently sacked from his job as Sunderland manager and is looking for a new position.

The company lost three major corporate clients in a 12-month period and the arrival of low-price retailers like Aldi and Lidl has put pressure on the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) firms Watermarque dealt with, said Mr Gaskin yesterday. It is understood there is a small number of creditors, including the Revenue Commissioners and Mr Gaskin himself.

The company provided a full range of services to its clients, including promotional work, direct marketing, advertising and media buying. The company at one point employed 24 people, but this has been radically reduced over the last year. Mr Gaskin attempted to organise a merger with another marketing firm, but this did not proceed.

Yesterday he said that price was now dominating Irish retailing and consumer goods firms were under great pressure as a result. He said this often resulted in reductions in marketing spend.

Over the last few months Mr Gaskin has also been facing restriction proceedings arising out of his role as a non-executive director of Doherty advertising, which went into receivership in August 2003. However, this week the High Court ruled that Mr Gaskin had resigned as director in November 2002 and bore no responsibility in relation to the liquidator Jim Stafford's complaints about the absence of board meetings or cash flow statements.