Peck's appointment follows the announcement of a joint venture between Paperhat and Gutenberg Networks last autumn and marks his return to the industry following a four-year absence.

Peck said: "I am delighted to join Paperhat. The company is very professional, operates in an exciting market and its association with Gutenberg underpins its capabilities and strengths. I have great confidence in its future."

The move will see Peck reunited with former O2O print services director Tony Rapacioli, who was appointed managing director of Paperhat in September 2009, and, according to chief executive Tim Peppiatt, could herald a new era of expansion for the business.

Peppiatt said that the management team is now targeting "a similar buy-and-build strategy" to that masterminded by Peck at O2O, where he led a successful £10m MBI in December 2000, before growing the company and floating it less than four years later with a market capitalisation of £64.9m.

Peppiatt added that, following Peck's appointment, the firm has begun talks with debt funders with a view to financing its acquisition spree, with a target of "four or five key deals over the next 18 to 24 months".

"Doing an acquisition – even when you know what you want – isn't an overnight thing, so it's mainly planning at the moment. But we've certainly got some serious interest and that's quite a nice endorsement of Ray and the team's ability really," said Peppiatt.

"We want good performing companies that will be a valuable part of what we believe needs to be a more diverse supply chain. You've got agency that are the creative engine, you've got media companies and you've got the kind of company that Paperhat wants to be that will do, not just print, but will offer a much wider service.

"We've just picked up an account with Gutenberg where we're doing the artwork, print, storage and distribution and they've now given us the creative adaptation as well, which is coming from America. So that actually crosses all the disciplines – one of which is stocking and distribution, which we'd like to own ourselves but at the moment we're having to use a third party."

Peppiatt listed the firm's acquisition targets as asset management companies, document management, stocking and distribution, translation and other print management firms.

"We want companies that are complementary to what we've got, both here and abroad," he said. "Tony and I have reshaped the business to give it a wider appeal to clients. It's certainly helped greatly that we've got an excellent partner with the geographical reach of Gutenberg. But, by their own admittance, there are parts of the supply chain that they don't have and that's why they came to Paperhat.

"At the moment, I don't think there's anyone that can offer what Paperhat and Gutenberg are able to jointly offer and we don't want to wait for everyone else to catch up, we want to keep moving forward and that means we need to keep adding pieces to that chain.

"Our strategy is not because we think it would be a lovely thing to do – it's client driven. So what we're doing is in response to the way we believe the market is going to change."

Paperhat has also appointed Tom O'Donnell, a former divisional director at Office Depot, as business development director to underpin the firm's strategic business development plan.

Paperhat's joint venture with Omnicom Group subsidiary Gutenberg Networks includes an option to buy the print manager outright at a later date; however, Peppiatt said that the identity of any future purchaser of Paperhat was not a foregone conclusion.

"Clearly, Paperhat is going to get much bigger now and Gutenberg has an option to purchase later on. However, they're not putting us under any pressure at the moment to make a purchase and they've only got an option to buy, so it may be them it may be someone else – we hope it will be Gutenberg."

Following his appointment, Peck has acquired in excess of 20% of Paperhat's stock by buying out the firm's original (business angel) investors.