The high-street print franchise chain is aiming to increase its number of stores in the UK and Ireland from its existing 171 to 200.

Prontaprint’s plans follow its sale last month as part of Adare’s On Demand Com­munications division, which also owns Kall Kwik, to Irish investment house Boun­dary Capital.

Laird Mackay, Prontaprint managing director, said: “The new owner wants to grow the presence back over the 200 mark. The investment’s now there and the belief is there to grow it.”

Overseas expansion is also part of Prontaprint’s growth plan. Mackay said that he was in negotiations with an Italian firm in the hope of opening a master franchise in that country.

“It’s in early stages. There’s a lot of research and planning there, of course, but we do have a prospective partner and the aim is to go international,” said Mackay.

Should the talks come to fruition, Prontaprint could find itself in competition with rival UK franchise chain Printing.com in Europe as it also looks overseas for growth (see below).

In a further plank to the expansion strategy, Mackay revealed that Prontaprint is in talks with Xerox and an as-yet unnamed bank to set up a scheme that would help young entrepreneurs launch their own franchise.

The expansion plans come in the midst of Prontaprint’s roll-out of a wholesale rebrand, which it is now conducting in batches of around 20 stores every quarter. Some 46 franchises have already moved to the new branding, while the next batch will rebrand next month. The rollout is expected to be complete by the end of summer 2008.

Mackay said: “It’s very controlled. Doing it that way creates a good esprit de corps among a small group of companies. Then we do a media launch in the area we roll out into to get as much bang for our buck as possible.”

Prontaprint has also commissioned market research on how it can improve its electronic and online offering to clients. Mackay said that areas under scrutiny would include soft proofing and website design.