In May last year owner Richard Desmond announced a £100m five year investment plan, including four Commander CT KBA presses on the Daily Express website.

The company has subsequently remained tight-lipped over the move, although the Luton site was eventually confirmed when a Luton MP mentioned it in a BBC interview in January.

A statement from Ferag has confirmed that it has been chosen to supply the finishing equipment for the Luton site, which it described as a £60m modern newspaper printing centre.

The plant will have a TPC forwarding station, which will supply a TPC gripper. The gripper will be wider than traditional gripping tools, in order to handle heavier and thicker products.

Express Group's plant will have eight MultiStack units, each with underwrapper feeders and SmartStrap bundle strapping lines.

Ferag also supplied four fully automatic Segbert palletizers.

The plant will feature four KBA Commander CT presses, comprising 22 towers and four folders. The first coldset press is due to be up and running by late 2011.