Turnover was up 14% at £528.3m (2011: £463.9m), while underlying pre-tax profit rost 73% to £57.7m (2011: £33.3m) as De La Rue put its well-publicised paper production problems behind it.

Outgoing chairman Nicholas Brookes, who will retire on 26 July, said: "I am pleased to report that De La Rue has made excellent progress in the past financial year, achieving strong growth in revenue and profit.

"As I leave De La Rue, I am confident that, with a strong management team and a clear plan for improvement, the business is well placed for the future."

Such has been the progress of the company's Improvement Plan, which is targeting an operating profit in excess of £100m by 2014, that it has already declared itself on track to meet its goal.

Paul Jones, an analyst with Panmure Gordon, said: "They're quite a bit ahead of where I expected them to be and there are some signs of optimism, which we haven't been able to say about De La Rue for some time.

"For them to post an operating profit of over £60m and say that they're very confident of achieving full payback on the three year plan is a fairly big statement of intent. It shows the workforce is clearly buying into what is a very realistic strategy to consistently achieve an operating profit in excess of £100m."

Jones added that the paper production issues that had hung over De La Rue since they were announced in 2010 were now a thing of the past. "The issues are largely over both from a client perspective and from a city point of view," he said.

De La Rue's share price dropped slightly on publication of its preliminary results; however, Jones said this was because the company had already benefitted significantly from speculation about a possible Greek exit from the Euro.

"On a one month view the share price is probabaly about right, but on a three to six-month view the price still represents good value," he concluded.

The appointments bring the company's workforce up to 80.

Managing director Tim Andrews attributed the anticipated £1m increase in sales, which will bring the company's turnover to £6.5m, to winning new contracts and making the company more efficient.

He said: "We are investing in our digital division as our market share is expanding and we are putting people in place to service it.

"Our increase in turnover is partly due to winning a £1m Olympics contract to dress Westfield shopping centre with branding from the event's official sponsors; however, it is also due to what we see as a rebounding market and the fact that we are emerging from recession in a better place than we were when it started."

The company has invested £2m in new equipment over the past three years with new installations including EFI Vutek flatbeds and HP roll-to-roll machines and Andrews said it aims to hit the £10m turnover mark within the next two years.

Hollywood Monster has ongoing contracts with companies such as Westfield and Next as and has achieved success in the housing sector by working with businesses such as Barratt Developments and Lovell Homes.

The company was given further cause for celebration on Saturday after Birmingham City Ladies Football Club, which it has sponsored for the past two years, beat Chelsea Ladies to win the Women's FA Cup.

The company's mascot joined the team at a training session on Friday before the match and on the pitch before the start of the final.

Andrews added: "We were delighted when Birmingham City Ladies won the FA Cup, we were thrilled for the team and it gave our company a lot of great exposure."

According to Canon Europe director of professional print David Preskett, it was clear that customers "felt they gained a unique perspective on their business" during the show.

He added: "Visitor numbers to the Canon stand were impressive, with over 10,000 new leads captured.

"And while we had a strong representation from western Europe, it was also great to see large customer groups from the USA and emerging markets, such as the Middle East and Brazil."

Preskett cited a strong showing across Canon's imagePress portfolio as well as interest in Océ's brand new Velocity wide format technology.

The inkjet machine, co-developed with Memjet, can print at 500 A0-format sheets per hour, four times as fast as Océ's next quickest wide-format printer, the ColorWave 650.

The Velocity features an array of five Memjet heads and offers resolutions of 1,600x800dpi.

"For Canon, Drupa 2012 exceeded our expectations and, through further investment and innovation, we'll continue to support the many customers who invested in the expertise we offer across the printing spectrum," said Preskett.

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Hello! magazine is offering readers a closer look at this week's cover star Gary Barlow by rolling out an augmented reality app that presents a 3D image of the Take That singer.

Lottery promotes 'genuine' Olympic contribution through ad push

The National Lottery is repositioning itself as a "genuine supporter" of London 2012 and is rolling out an ad campaign to highlight the £2.2bn it has contributed to the Games.

Kellogg boss departs as food giant kicks off global rebrand

Kellogg has parted company with its European president Stephen Twaddell as it embarks on a global rebranding billed as the "most significant update" of its corporate identity in the company's history.

Brazen to 'bring out the cake' for McVitie's

A campaign to promote McVitie's cakes as a summer snack of choice has been handed to Brazen.

Sorrell says Adam & Eve acquisition 'shows DDB needed some help'

Omnicom's decision to buy Adam & Eve for an estimated £60m last week underlines how its creative network DDB "needed some help", according to Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of rival holding group WPP.

EMEA marketing manager Eric Bell said that the show had also been a good opportunity to introduce packaging printers to the GossSunday Vpak.

"Drupa was the first public showing for the Vpak outside of our factory so it was about introducing that sector to our Sunday technology," he added.

"It was a success in terms of interest and now there's a lot of follow-up work to do, but that's what shows are about - what you do after Drupa is just as important as what you do in the build-up."

Bell echoed the consensus that the quality of leads at the show had outweighed the decline in visitors. "On the high end capital goods side all the key decision makers were there," he added. "So while it was quieter, it was still a good show."

The manufacturer also showcased its Sunday 5000 96-page web press, as well as units from the new high-speed single-width Goss Magnum HPS and its latest 16-page M600 at Drupa.

Goss International president and chief executive Jochen Meissner said: "We accomplished what we set out to do at Drupa, which was to introduce our customers to innovative ideas for commercial print, packaging and newspaper production.

A commemorative publication, Birmingham Memories, charting the site's history has also been printed to mark the milestone.

Founded in 1862 by Thomas Bird Smith, sir John Benjamin Stone and Frederick Knight, the mill - part of one the world's largest cardboard box manufacturers - now employs 110 people and produces between 500 and 700 tonnes of packaging paper a year, which is sold to customers for conversion into cardboard boxes.

The Smurfit Kappa SSK site uses around 40,000 tonnes of recycled paper and cardboard collected annually through local initiatives around Birmingham.

Congratulating SSK on its achievements Birmingham City Council's strategic director for environment and culture Sharon Lea said recycling continued to be a very important part of the council's strategy to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.

She added: "Being able to recycle Birmingham paper and cardboard in Birmingham whilst creating local jobs for Birmingham people is a fantastic good news story for the city."

SSK, along with the Townsend Hook in Kent, comprises Smurfit Kappa Group's (SKG) UK Paper Division containerboard mill operations, both supplying the same range of products to the European corrugated case making industry.

Meanwhile SKG Q1 results for 2012 showed "essentially stable revenue" and strong EBITDA results of €246m (£197m), up 1% on the same period in 2011.

Results for the financial year 2011/12 showed earnings growth of 12% to just over €1bn - the second best annual results in the group's history, according to group chairman Liam O'Mahony.

Brands affected include Acti-V, Chantaffiche, Gervalux, Kaefoflex, Metalkote, Velin and Silca, are manufactured in Brazil, France, Germany and Italy and serve customers in 28 countries across six continents.

The line covers applications for abrasive, flexible packaging furniture laminates, graphic, poster, release liner, wet-glue and pressure sensitive adhesive labels and serves the graphic, labeling and food packaging markets worldwide.

The label and processing brand is the only line affected as products are based entirely on cellulose fibres, meaning prices across the line are more sensitive to cost increases of the component.

Ahlstrom said the increase will vary depending on specific products, markets and invoicing currencies and will be discussed with customers individually.

The 1001 GS12 jets larger 12 to 84 picolitre drops than the company's established GS6 printhead and offers output speeds up to 50% faster than the older model.

Xaar's GS12 features the company's TF Technology and Hybrid Side Shooter architecture, which enables ink in the printhead to flow directly past the back of the nozzle.

According to Xaar, this means the nozzles are continuously re-primed, allowing single-pass printers to run for a full production shift with minimal maintenance.

Debuted at Ceramics China 2012 (28 - 31 May), the first printers from manufacturers such as EFI Cretaprint and TecnoFerrari to incorporate the 1001 GS12 printheads, will be launched at Tecnargilla in Italy this September.

Xaar marketing director Mark Alexander said: "No other printhead uses our unique TF Technology, so no other printhead can deliver the same extremely high-level machine uptime as the Xaar 1001."

He added: "Maintaining maximum productivity in the digital decoration process is essential for the ceramics industry, which is why TF Technology is so important.

"Xaar is committed to remaining at the forefront of this rapidly developing market and we will continue to develop the best printheads to meet its very specific needs."

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The Diana Inspection Control module can monitor all carton formats produced on a series of different sized presses, and check for post press faults.

The new folder gluer, which has a working width of 80cm, will replace two older lines at Chesapeake's Leicester plant.

Operations director Jon Drennan said: "Regulatory controls are rightly very tight in the pharma market and this type of production tool will be a real asset."

The Diana X 80 is aimed at the pharmaceutical packaging market. Optional add-ons include the packer along with a stack turner and feeder.

Favini was bought out of a Chapter 11 type arrangement in May 2008 after failing to turn around the unprofitable Dutch mills it had purchased. A group of investors purchased the Italian assets, led by the equity fund, Orlando, which now holds 52% of the company.

Marketing and sales director Chris Brown said Orlando Italy had "controlled the direction and strategy" of the paper company, encouraging development of products for niche markets.

He credited the company's innovations and developments with its growth, which has increased each of the past three financial years, and said its commitment to being a specialist paper maker was now more focused. Favini's latest releases include high-end papers Twist and Softy and Majestic's sub-brand, Satins.

"Favini is not all about innovating new products, but changing our ranges, whether it is colour or grammage, and focusing on different markets. We are concentrating on the packaging and labeling market and, over the past two years, we have developed substrates for shopping bags and swing tags for the fashion market.

"We have improved the mix, offering higher value products with the same tonnage. The products are more interesting and offer better solutions for our customers in the niche markets we occupy," he said.

Exports accounted for 60% of Favini's €127.1m total revenue, particularly within the Far East and South America. Brown said Orlando Italy had encouraged a more "aggressive" approach to emerging markets, and Favini has increased its presence in these areas. The company now has a dedicated resource for its Release Papers division in Brazil and the Italian sales department had allocated more staff to emerging markets.

Brown said sales had increased 20% since Orlando Italy joined in May 2008, and 2011's net income reached €3.2m in 2011.

Favini CEO Andrea Nappa said: "Four years after the arrival of the private equity fund, we are proud of the results we have achieved, particularly given the great uncertainty in the marketplace.

"Even in such a mature industry there are still market niches that are growing and constantly evolving and where a focus on quality, innovation and environmentalism are appreciated. Understanding and anticipating market trends is crucial, now more than ever, in order to stay competitive."

Favini papers are distributed in the UK exclusively by Fenner Paper, supplied from Favini's two Italian mills, Rossano Veneto and Crusinallo.

The deal will allow MGE to offer the complete range of Benford's UV drying systems throughout India, as well as MGE's associated territories, providing sales, installation and technical support to customers.

Benford managing director Marc Boden said: "I am confident that we have found the best available partner in MGE to serve the vast Indian market."

MGE India managing director Satish Chandna said: "We are extremely pleased to be able to offer such a world class product to the Indian market. There is a growing demand for UV in both the web and sheetfed sectors in India and Benford's UV systems offer a fantastic dryer solution for printers."

DMGT reported a 2% drop in turnover to £973m, while pre-tax profit dropped 37% to £46m. It also cut 600 jobs in the period, taking its overall number down to just under 6,300.

Associated Newspapers, which publishes the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, recorded an operating profit of £34m and a 1% turnover drop to £435m.

According to DMGT, turnover was held up thanks to: cover price increases at its national titles and growth at free newspaper Metro; Mail Online, which saw a 75% year-on-year increase in turnover; and its recruitment and digital property businesses.

The diminishing influence of its printed titles increased, with Associated Newspapers increasing digital turnover by 21%, with £100m expected to be surpassed by the end of the year.

DMGT blamed falling profit at Associated Newspapers on the UK newspaper advertising market, which led to a 7% fall in underlying advertising revenues from its newspaper-related operations to £171m; print advertising was down 10%.

While its national outlook was not great, regional newspaper division Northcliffe reported a 34% increase in operating profit to £11m, although turnover did decline 10% to £107m. Advertising fell 11% year-on-year to £75m, with circulation down 5% to £29m.

A&N Media, the parent group for the entire newspaper division, incorporating both national and regional titles, reported a 3% fall in turnover to £542m and a 24% fall in operating profits to £33m - which it blamed on lower print advertising revenue coupled with increased promotional activity within the digital side of the business.

DMGT chief executive Martin Morgan said: "We have delivered a solid underlying performance in the first half reflecting the strength of our business-to-business companies and the resilience of our national consumer titles.

"As expected, disposals and certain one-off factors have led to lower reported half year results. The continued growth of our business-to-business companies and more positive momentum expected within our consumer operations in the second half of the year means that we expect to achieve growth in earnings for the full financial year, compared to the equivalent figure last year."

It is to sell its Caradec site in north-west France and an SCA site in Darlington but is yet to confirm whether it will divest an SCA plant in Hinckley, Leicestershire, without the Delta part of the business, or a DS Smith facility in Monmouth, which would exclude its PSM operation.

DS Smith said the sale of three of its sites would represent around 1% of the enlarged group's profits.

The group declined to comment on whether any sales were underway or whether there were many potential buyers.

The EC said that DS Smith's original takeover proposal could have caused competition concerns in the UK for heavy duty and offset litho laminated packaging "as the merged entity would have had a strong market position without sufficient constraint from competitors".

It also identified problems in the Brittany region of France for corrugated packaging, as DS Smith would have controlled the only three production sites in the region. Other suppliers would have faced higher transport costs, it said.

EC vice-president for competition policy Joaquin Almunia said the agreement would ensure that corrugated packaging "will continue to be available at cost-effective prices in the internal market."

DS Smith has more than 10,000 staff at 94 different manufacturing sites while SCA Packaging employs around 12,600 people at 110 different sites in 21 countries.

Voted for by the European Digital Press Association, Antalis McNaughton claims that Digigreen is the first 100% green paper available for the digital print market; it is FSC- and European Ecolabel-accredited and has NAPM 50% Recycled certification.

Launched at the beginning of 2012, Digigreen is suitable for use on HP Indigo and dry toner laser presses, and is compatible with Canon, Xerox, Kodak, Ricoh and Xeikon presses.

Antalis McNaughton product manager Greg Plowman said: "I'm very proud for the team who helped develop Digigreen to win this award.

"Digigreen is the first coated paper developed specifically for the digital print market to combine enhanced service technology with a PCW recycled element. We've worked with digital press manufacturers to ensure Digigreen delivers the very best in terms of toner adhesion and lift, runability, superior whiteness, excellent bulk and opacity."

The company is expanding the range to include a 400gsm sheet in the near future due to high demand and digital print technology advancements.

Service Graphics was awarded the print job by private real estate development firm, Deerbrook Group, which is developing the site into a four-star Mondrian brand hotel.

The company, which is the large format print and display division of St Ives, had to turn the job around in 15 days with planning permission only granted on 10 May.

The black back PVC banner was printed on its Durst Rho 500 printer in Chessington, Surrey and then fabricated into seven sections using high frequency welding to bond the material.

Upon completion, the banner, which is the company's largest job to date, was unveiled last Friday (25 May) at 10am.

Scott King, sales director of Service Graphics said: "We are delighted to work with Deerbrook Group to produce such an extraordinary building banner.

"This project represents the largest ever single graphic produced by Service Graphics and we are extremely pleased with the result."

The banner depicts the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977, with Prince Charles, Prince Edward, Prince Andrew, Lord Mountbatten along with The Queen, Prince Phillip, Captain Mark Phillips and Princess Anne standing on the balcony at Buckingham Palace.

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The Quantum, CPI Group's sixth in Europe but first in colour, combines HP's T350 inkjet web press with Magnum's Flexbook finishing solution. It is capable of mono, two- and four-colour printing onto standard substrates with no pre-treatment.

CPI said the machine provided a more cost-effective solution for short-run, full colour digital book printing, such as special editions or academic publications, and would allow "a small percentage of spot and integrated colour to be produced at almost the same cost as a mono product."

CPI chief operating officer Ian Smith said the "unique offer" would benefit both trade and STMA publishers.

Publisher Simon and Schuster, who teamed up with CPI to produce the book, said the advent of the Quantum meant trade titles were no longer restricted by plate sections. Supply operations director David Hyde said: "This is a game changer for UK fiction publishing."

MBA Group chairman Bachar Aintaoui said that the multi-vendor spend would likely include colour digital kit from Xerox and litho print from Heidelberg, which is a long-standing supplier to the company.

"We are primarily focused on buying products that will add value to our business and increase efficiency, rather than just looking to add capacity," he explained.

"We're investing in more colour technology for our site in Warrington to bring that in line with what we have in London and give us true disaster recovery for our business."

MBA's £3m equipment spend, which will begin on 1 June with the installation of the Pitney Bowes machines, reflects the ongoing growth in its own business since signing a £70m contract with Vertex last summer.

"We're growing reasonably well," said Aintaoui. "The figures for this year will be £40m - up from the £31m we had last year - and we will continue to show progress over the next 12 months, which we're pretty happy with.

"The addition of Warrington has been a success - it's added capacity and also true DR for our business; we've not lost any clients and we're generally selling more of the colour digital as part of our multi-channel marketing approach."

Aintaoui added that it was important for print companies to keep moving forward and investing, as many did at Drupa, where he said his impression was that people had "clearly gone with a view to reengineering their business rather than just making a speculative visit".

"Printers can't keep moaning [about the state of the industry] because nothing's going to change - things will never go back to what they used to be," he said. "Businesses need to reengineer to be able to offer a much better proposition to their customers and to show a better return on investment.

"We need to work harder for our customers, which is why most of our investment is focused on true efficiencies that will allow us to deliver more for our customers to help their businesses."

He added that Benny Landa's Nanographic printing presses, while undoubtedly the star of the show at Drupa, needed to deliver on their promise before they could be considered a viable option.

"There was a lot of interest around the Landa presses at Drupa; I went to the Landa show and the truth is it sounded convincing but the challenge is to deliver on quality, to deliver on cost reduction, but above all to deliver production machines not prototypes," he said.

"I understand they needed to capitalise on the timing of Drupa but by their own admission the technology is not ready. Until they deliver on all of that we won't be joining the queue to sign for a machine."

The two-volume set's design is a modern update of the original Coronation creation by artist Lynton Lamb. The central lozenge from the 1952 book is repeated and rotated to create a diamond on the front and back boards of the Diamond Jubilee edition, tooled in 22-carat gold lead with onlays of fair calf leather.

30 smaller, conical diamonds cut by the binder's gold finisher using a brass hand-tool specially created for the Jubilee edition surround each diamond.

Specially made tools used solely for the original ceremony Bible have been reinstated to embellish the binding of the Diamond Jubilee Bible with Royal Insignia and lettering finished in gold.

Sangorski & Sutcliffe, England's oldest surviving hand bookbinding company, approached The Folio Society to publish the edition who agreed that its binding of the King King James Bible would be ideal for the commemorative Bible.

The original Bible required 32 different processes to create the prestigious product commissioned specifically for the 1952 coronation ceremony. Twenty-five copies were published.

The editions are currently in production and will be available in the next month to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II's 60 years on the throne.

Sutcliffe & Sangorski owner Robert Shepherd said: "An important commission for Sangorski &Sutcliffe was securing the contract to bind the Coronation Bible, the Bible on which the Queen was to swear her oath of allegiance to her country in 1953.

"The aim of the Jubilee Bible is to acknowledge the spirit of the original design and at the same time convey the significance and tremendous achievement of the Queen's sixty years on the throne."

In January, the then employment relations minister Ed Davey announced that the government was scrapping plans to introduce changes to the current legislation on pre-pack sales.

Proposals to introduce a moratorium period during pre-pack sales had been announced by the coalition in the 2011 Budget, following a consultation carried out in 2010 investigating alternative options to the controversial insolvency tool. But the minister then told the business community that it was unnecessary to introduce new measures other than for micro-businesses.

But as part of an urgent review now being carried out by the Insolvency Service - an agency of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills - stakeholders were asked to give their views on how transparency and confidence (particularly for small businesses) could be improved within existing regulations.

The Insolvency Agency is to collate views expressed in the meeting and consider what non-legislative changes could be implemented to ensure creditors had confidence in the process.

A spokesperson said: "These include a fact-sheet on the Insolvency Service website to provide more information to creditors and requiring trade bodies to educate their members, to ensure that any abuse will be brought to the attention of regulators."

But BPIF public affairs advisor Andrew Brown, who attended the meeting, said it was a disappointing outcome and that he had little confidence in non-regulatory measures having an effect.

"A lot was said, but whether it will make a big difference, I don't know. Non-regulatory suggests voluntary action, and an undertaking between the insolvency professions and the government that things will be done differently to improve transparency and confidence. I think that may be difficult.

"I am not confident in it working unless the minister is prepared to lean on people to improve the situation or face regulation."

Nigel Stubley, managing director of book printer Northend Creative Print Solutions, said the latest move was a complete "climb-down" by the government hiding behind red tape.

He added: "In the print industry, one man's pre-pack is another man's administration."