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Earlier this month, the title's future was plunged into doubt as the Barclays, who have ploughed £30m into the paper, issued an ultimatum to management to find a solution to the paper's financial problems or face possible closure.

Senior managers then launched a management buyout bid but their hopes were dashed when the bid received a negative reaction from venture capitalists.

The billionaire brothers said at the time they would "prefer to remain involved" in the newspaper, but it was thought that their continued involvement was dependent on a new investor emerging.

Sunday Business has negotiated with the Press Association to increase the amount of PA content it uses and to outsource the production of the newspaper.

The pink broadsheet will also move into PA's News Centre offices in Victoria and, despite paying the PA's standard price to lease the office space, will make significant cost savings which places the paper on a "firm economic footing and brings forward profitability", the newspaper said in a statement.

The newspaper's content will still be written and produced by Sunday Business staff but the pages will be laid out by the PA team.

The title is to drop its Business & Pleasure magazine and its Sunday Investor section will be folded into the newspaper.

Sunday Business publisher Andrew Neil said: "I am sad to have to lose staff at all and particularly unhappy that we have to drop our excellent magazine. But in the current grim economic climate we had to find ways to cut our costs to bring them closer into line with revenues to secure continued financing.

"We will now concentrate on what has always been the paper's unique selling point -- its distinctive and authoritative business coverage. We have exciting and imaginative plans in place for the new year to allow us to expand readership and increase revenues."

The paper has been making heavy losses since the Barclays relaunched it in 1998 and it is on course to lose around £9m this year. The paper has been suffering a circulation slide in recent months and has seen its sales fall from a high of 72,000 in February 2000 to its current October ABC figure of 60,284.

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