The £500,000 press, which has replaced a five-colour Heidelberg and two-colour Kyobi, both of which were 12 years old, has been installed to print a wide variety of four and five-colour work, including direct mail, brochures and leaflets.

The company has also invested £45,000 in B2 format Screen Plate-Rite 2055Vi plate setters.

The Reading-based Herald Chase Group, which has a turnover of £5m, has six other litho presses, including a four-colour Ryobi machine.

Chris Goslar, managing director of Herald Chase Group, said: "We made the investment because we were having to outsource a lot of work that we wanted to start doing ourselves."

The Herald Chase Group says that the make-ready speed has been reduced to around 10 minutes per job on the new Ryobi, compared to 45 minutes on the equipment it has replaced.

The Herald Chase Group, which merged with Conservatree Print & Design in October, employs more than 50 people at its warehouse in Thames Valley. Its customers include B&Q, Comet, Wincanton, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, BG group and Thus plc.

The press was purchased from Apex Digital Graphics.