The company, which flirted with digital in the late 1990s, has now ordered an Indigo 3050 and an Indigo 5500 off HP's stand at Drupa.

Managing director Kevin Creechan said: "We dabbled with a Xeikon about 10 years ago but the market wasn't really ready, whereas now it's very ready - if anything we probably should have done this a year ago."

Prepress director Allan Harrop admitted that, with the strong Euro, the timing of the investment was not ideal, however, that wasn't enough to put off the Glasgow-based printer.

"You've just got to bite the bullet. Because otherwise, how long do you wait? Six months? A year? It's probably not the ideal time from the exchange point of view but at the end of the day it's the right time commercially for us to do the deal," he said.

HP area sales manager Alastair Knockton said he was delighted that Thomson had chosen HP Indigo.

"J Thomson is a huge strategic win for us because they are one of the market leaders," he said.

The company was also shopping for a 12-colour litho press at the show, with KBA, Heidelberg and manroland all vying for its business.

"We saw all the major players and we'll probably look to do a deal within a month," said Creechan.

The two new HP presses are due for installation at J Thomson at the end of this month.