A six-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster press, CTP and a management information system to streamline fine-art work have all gone into the Dartford firm.

"We've been pushed by customers to expand," said managing director Roy Risley. "They found us excellent for B2 work but we couldn't compete on B1 prices. So it was investment time."

The Speedmaster CD 102 has ImageControl spectrophotometry. It runs beside the Suprasetter 105 thermal platesetter with multi-cassette loading.

Dexter Graphics also bought Prinance MIS, a Polar 115X guillotine and a KH 82 folder in a deal with Close Print Finance.

"Fine-art books are usually bespoke formats and rarely standard sizes. With six-colour B1 and B2 presses we can offer several choices."

His 35-staff firm hopes the spree will help increase its 3.3m turnover by 1.2m within two years.

Risley said of ImageControl: "In the long term, people won't be able to compete on quality without spectrophotometric measurement."