The company, which now consists of eight staff and has a turnover of £800,000 has taken on Stedman’s order book along with three of its staff, and its machinery.

As part of Black Lion’s growth, it has also moved to new purpose-built premises and has bought a Printuitive print management system and a new Xav­ier laminator and mounter. It is also about to invest in a Xerox digital press.

Mark Stokes, one of Black Lion’s directors, said of the purchase: “It is a good combination because we deal with artwork jobs using our designers and they did more traditional litho.

“We are combining the two to give us more strength and provide a more whole and varied service,” he added.

Black Lion is growing its digital as well as litho services and said it is not expecting to fill its new digital presses purely with commercial work.