Following a profit and debt default warning in April and a wider than expected full-year loss the following month, Schawk reported a pre-tax profit of $13.3m (£8m), compared to a pre-tax loss of $1.6m in the third quarter of 2008.

This came despite falling revenues, which declined to $113.5m from $125.4m in the previous year. However, the company was boosted by a payment of $9.2m relating to the acquisition of Seven Worldwide Holdings in 2005.

Schawk experienced revenue drops across all its sectors, most notably in advertising and retail accounts within its consumer products packaging division, which declined by 14% to $22.1m as clients reduced spending on advertising and new product releases.

President and chief executive David Schawk said the quarter was "an improvement" for the company.

"While there continue to be opportunities for further improvement, we believe our financial results confirm that the new processes we have put into place are working.

"To this end, we believe that continuing on this path will enable us to capitalise on our global footprint and improve our operations while being locally and globally agile and thereby able to adapt to marketplace turbulence."

During the quarter, gross margin increased to 40.1%, compared to 34.4% in the same period of 2008. The company said that it would continue to assess its cost base, as part of a restructuring programme that has generated savings of $12.8m in annual costs so far this year.