Earlier this month the Leeds-based company, which was incorporated into the £200m turnover Adare printing empire in 1994 before a management buy out eight years ago, installed two W&D reel-fed envelope machines as pat of a six-figure investment.

The 125-staff company with a £20m turnover, has also notched up several impressive contract wins recently. These include two deals for transactional work, each worth £500,000, a £400,000 contract with a charity and a £500,000 contract for a utility and insurance provider.

"Success is down to good customer service and not being overly ambitious but strong in business," said sales director Ian Mitchelson. "We will always look to invest to make ourselves more efficient and profitable but it's more about good, steady, consistent profits, not soaring from £20m to £50m."

Mitchelson added: "We have produced over 45bn envelopes over the last 25 years, and have processed over half a million orders. Many of our customers have been with us for as long as 15 years."

GNE is one of the largest independent UK manufacturers of direct mail and transactional envelopes, supplying both end user and trade customers with orders ranging from 1,000 envelopes to several million. Some 6m envelopes are supplied and 100 individual orders are processed a day.

Managing director Warren Shermer said "We are delighted to be celebrating 25 years in the industry and are proud to be one of the key suppliers in the UK envelope industry as well as being a major local employer in the Leeds area with over 120 staff."

Operations director Barry Williamson said: "Over the last 25 years we have invested more than £15m in new equipment and technology, ensuring we can deliver the best possible product and service offering to all our customers."