Paul Dawe, director of the 15-staff, Dorset-based company, said the investment followed a rise in demand for the production of monochrome short-run books.

"The 288 has provided a solution that enables us to increase our market share in the publishing markets," he added.

"It has increased our mono production capabilities by nearly 50%, taking our daily capacity to 850,000 A4 mono prints, thus improving our response times considerably."

The Nuvera press was provided by Xeretec and joins existing kit that includes five Nuvera presses and three DocuColors.

Dawe added that the company was now targeting 18% annual growth for the next two years and hopes to reach £2m by 2012.