First Tradeprint, now Solopress. It’s no coincidence that some of the UK’s fastest-growing, and most profitable print business have proved attractive to large web-to-print businesses.

Congratulations to the Solopress team in Southend, and in particular to founders Andy Smith and Aron Priest, for all that they have achieved.

It’s an inspiring story about how to create genuine value in print. Two small printers get together and create something really rather special. In the beginning, Andy would be running out the film (film! Those were the days) while Aron would be running the machines, including a four-colour Solna back in the day.

By recognising the potential benefits in ganging up work, tapping into a desire for fast turnaround print, and building the software systems and production methods to support that (and a suitably jaunty online presence) the duo have done very well.

Last year sales at Solopress topped £20m for the first time, and this is just 13 years after those two jobbing printers joined forces.

While it all sounds terribly easy pared down to a few sentences, I’ve not doubt an immense amount of hard work has gone into building this much-admired business over that period. No doubt the requisite amount of blood, sweat and tears was also involved.

Hats off to them. While the terms of the deal have not been disclosed, and Aron laughed out loud when I said I envisaged they were now “rolling in gold”, I do genuinely hope the sale to Onlineprinters has resulted in a suitable reward for all that hard work. 

Who says there's no money in print?