Production director Liz Shackleton said the firm needed to reassure key clients on the continent that it would still be able to handle their work, post-Brexit.

Jamm is based in south-east London and offers a range of services, including data processing and direct mail management for charities.

Shackleton said: “We just couldn’t wait. If we’d have known what the [Brexit] plan was 18 months ago we could have sorted it all out from here.

“Our European clients weren’t confident we would still be able to handle their work after Brexit, so we had to act.”

A number of Jamm’s major customers are located in Germany, and Shackleton said Prague provided an ideal location that was a more economical option than being in Germany itself.

“People speak English and Prague has good communications. We needed to be within touching distance of the German border and Deutsche Post pickup," she said.

"The Czech Republic has a good tradition of printing and Prague is a lovely city. It's also easy to get to and transportation is good."

The switch means that, from May, printing and mailing that would have been carried out in the UK will be done on the continent instead.

“I couldn’t adopt the attitude with our customers that our government is adopting with us,” Shackleton stated. “We just can’t run the risk having our European customers’ work stuck in a traffic jam on the M20.”

The Prague facility will initially have two members of staff, although Shackleton expects “this will almost certainly grow”.

The company is putting contracts in place with Czech production houses with suitable printing and mailing facilities ready for when the new office starts operating at the beginning of May.

Shackleton said she hoped to replace the European work currently handled from the UK with new business, and said it was too soon to say whether it would be necessary to reduce headcount in the UK because of the switch.

Jamm employs 40 staff and has sales of around £3m. The firm also works for art galleries and museums, and offers trade services including print finishing, lasering and inkjet personalisation.

High-end digital and sheetfed printer Gavin Martin Colournet is located on the same site, allowing Jamm to offer a “hybrid” service, Shackleton said.

The firm also has an Australian operation that started on the back of a requirement from a single client, and now employs eight.