The US print giant, which acquired print management group Astron last year, posted a sales growth of 18% to 5bn ($8.4bn) for 2005.

However, net earnings from continuing operations were cut by nearly a third, from 151m in 2004 to just 54.5m.

The results were hampered by the firm incurring some 244m worth of charges for impairment, restructuring and integration, most of which related to its North American forms and labels business.

Meanwhile, the group has announced a plethora of multi-million contract renewals, the highlight of which is a 142.5m contract extension to produce all of AARP's magazines.

The multi-year agreement, which extends a 25-year relationship between the two firms, includes the handling of all pre-media, paper, printing and logistics for AARP's magazines.

Other contracts awarded include a contract extension worth 40m to produce Johnson Publishing's Ebony and Jet magazines.

Further contracts include a deal to print AT&T's Yellow Pages telephone directories in 12 states and a 17m deal to print all of US publisher Hanley Wood's business to business magazines.