The deal has been made through equipment reseller Danwood Group (7/D451).

Nick Claxson, managing director of DP Direct, said the Londonbased company had invested at a time when technology was changing in the marketplace.

He said: "This bit of kit is cuttingedge in the industry. It will enable us to further diversify, and we will be able to take on an increased volume of colour work."

The C8000 has been launched at Ipex and will ship in October. It can output up to 80 colour pages per minute and can print at a resolution of up to 1200dpi using the manufacturer's new Simitri HD toner.

In addition, the machine also features an eight-beam laser engine made from die-cast aluminium that can print at a standard "comparable to offset printing", according to Konica Minolta (9/DE340).

Claxson added that the business had "absolutely" enough capacity to fill the press, despite volumes having fallen in the market.

"There has been a lot of consolidation in this sector and a lot of competition has gone out of the marketplace. However, people do want more targeted mailing, and we are well placed to offer this to them."

He added that the business was still looking to expand, and didn't rule out potential acquisitions.

DP Direct is one of the UK's largest production mailing and digital print houses. Its publishers include retailers, magazine publishers, newspapers, financial, print management and DM agencies.