The UK arm of the pan-European print group recorded a net profit of £659,000 on sales of £84.6m for the year, significantly down on its £12.5m profit on sales of £85.5m in 2010.

Pre-tax profit came in at £1.6m for the year to 31 December (2010: £17.5m) while profit before interest and tax was £8.2m (2010: £23.3m).

The massive fall in income was the result of a £10m impairment charge on the company's property, plant and equipment that it said was primarily the result of "a change to a significant contract".

This contract change meant that the carrying value of Prinovis' assets exceeded the recoverable amount, leading to the impairment across a number of group assets. For comparison, Prinovis recorded an impairment in the previous year of just £259,000.

Meanwhile, Bertelsmann, owner of Prinovis, has announced the rebranding of its printing division - formed in January through the spin off of its gravure and international print businesses - as Be Printers.

Be Printers has 17 production sites in six countries across Europe, North and South America, employs approximately 6,800 staff and generates annual revenues of €1.2bn. Its print technology includes gravure, web and sheetfed offset and digital and its plants produce magazines, catalogues, brochures, books and calendars.

It has been widely speculated that the decision to spin off the group's print operations into a new division is the prelude to a sale, a suggestion Bertelsmann has denied.