News UK already prints 40m of the 60m newspapers that are printed each week in the UK, at its three state-of-the-art printing plants in Broxbourne, Knowsley and Glasgow, and controls the largest newspaper distribution operation in the Britain and Ireland.

In addition to distributing through established wholesalers, News UK delivers to 6,000 retailers in London as well as direct-to-consumer.

Hart, who officially joined the publisher yesterday (13 May), said that one of the key opportunities in the short-term lay in opening News UK's distribution network up to third-parties for the first time.

"I will be looking at how we can extend some of our distribution solutions outside of purely printing," she said. "Within Central London areas we go direct-to-retail we go direct-to-consumers through the letterbox and looking at how we can work with other publishers to give them that service and grow their business is going to be key in the short term."

In terms of driving print revenue growth, Hart said that News UK would look to increase its contract printing business as other publishers phase out older capacity.

"Overall with print there's a fixed cost - and we've got fixed costs as well as others - so for us to bring in other titles, other publishers, allows us to manage it a bit more efficiently," she said. "It also allows us to give them a very competitive price and [for them] not to have their own facility.

"Ultimately, with the declines that are continuing to happen in print, we [want] to work with partners who may be looking to close some of their print sites and looking for a good service from someone else.

"Some of the regionals aren't even on the supply chain with wholesale - we can help that happen, to bring economies to them and to keep the brands alive and to keep the titles out there."

Hart was previously head of sales and marketing, mail publisher solutions at DMG Media. News UK said she was chosen for her extensive experience in providing revenue generating services to publishers - in print, distribution or related services.

Chris Taylor, chief operating officer at News UK, said: "While we embrace and adapt to the digital media age there is still a strong demand for printed media and our confidence is demonstrated through our investment in our print operations.

"Tracey brings a wealth of sales, marketing and strategic business development experience and she will be a real driving force maximising every opportunity to expand this important part of our business."