The future of former staff and creditors at Bertram Books remains in limbo – despite the assets of the Norfolk book wholesaler being purchased.

Bertram Trading collapsed into administration last month, making around 460 people redundant.

However the assets of the brands under Bertram Trading – Bertram Books, Bertram Library Services and Dawson Books – have now been bought by family-owned business The Little Group.

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Assets can vary in type – some are physical and include the likes of property and equipment. Others are intangible, such as intellectual property, brand and reputation.

However a spokeswoman for The Little Group could not confirm what this meant for staff and people owed money by the company.

The spokeswoman said: “The group has not purchased the trading company and will not be trading the business in Norwich as Bertrams.

They said: “All creditors are being dealt with via the administrators.”

The Little Group is the parent company of south east business Gardners, which will take operational control over the assets.

The spokeswoman continued: “This will now give us extra warehouse capacity in addition to the Eastbourne operation and allows us to continue to expand our services, range and stockholding in the coming months and years.

“We strongly believe this will further enhance the opportunity to work even closer with retailers and publishers to grow sales in all channels at home and abroad in these very changing and varied times.

“For our suppliers and customers there will be little visible operational change and all will continue to interact, communicate and order with their established Gardners contacts and departments from the Eastbourne operation as they do now.”