The transactional mailing firm, which still trades as FST Technologies after Bath-based parent firm CFH Total Document Management bought it out of administration in October 2011, has also been recertified with Information Security Management System standards.
According to CFH managing director Dave Broadway it was the right time to develop the service offer of Livingstone-based FST, which he says has returned to profitability and has a turnover of £2.5m.
"We had a lot of things to do to get the business right and once we had made it profitable we felt that adding another string to their bow would be helpful. The Scottish market is not well served by cheque producing companies so it seemed sensible to bring them up to that level," he added.
Broadway said that although cheques were clearly in decline, there was still strong demand for them in the business community.
"This can add business to each job we do and if that’s just 5% extra with each customer then that’s great. We don’t expect this to suddenly double our business but we hope this will also bring us new clients," he explained.
Meanwhile CFH, which also bought Slough-based transactional mailing firm Print.UK.com last October, has launched its own postal delivery team at its Radstock headquarters. The 12-strong team recently delivered council tax bills for Bath and north east Somerset councils and Broadway said the company would roll the service out across all three sites.
He explained: "It means we can provide a proper end-to-end service from data to door and we can pass that cost saving on to our customer which is exactly what we did with the local councils. It’s probably the greenest way to get your post through the door."
In relation to the possible interventions set out by Ofcom in March to protect the universal service Broadway said "we find it hard to understand why Royal Mail should enjoy a protected monopoly position".
The measures include the possible imposition of general universal service conditions (GUSC) on Royal Mail’s competitors and the potential for a universal service compensation fund.
Broadway said: "Royal Mail have the choice to offer less discount for mail where costs are higher like in rural areas and give more discount where costs are lower. They currently choose to offer the same discounted rates for both to most customers. We pay Royal Mail a Zonal rate, so where we use them only for rural deliveries we pay more. That seems the fairest way to proceed.
He added: "We believe that a competitor must enjoy a similar volume of mail to Royal Mail before it is in any way fair to ask them to provide the same service, otherwise you are simply preventing competition rather than supporting the USO."
Broadway said he believed that CFH was too small currently to be affected by any decisions by Ofcom. He added: "If they do bring in any changes to support the Royal Mail's universal service I would prefer to see a fund that all mail users are required to contribute to, as all mail users will benefit from the protection of the USO."
