The loss, which was almost 700% greater than the £352,393 deficit Artisan recorded in the previous year, followed a significant drop in turnover, from £43.8m to £34.5m.

In the directors' report, financial director Rod Humby highlighted the 21% drop in turnover to £34.5m, coupled with an 18.7% reduction in volume, from 19.8bn to 16.1bn pages, as evidence of the overcapacity and uncertainty that has plagued the sector.

He added that power costs had risen approximately 40% in the period, leading the company to lock out its position at an additional cost of around £500,000, which is expected to generate a 45% reduction in energy costs.

The company also agreed a 10% wage cut with its staff, which came into effect on 1 January 2010, and reduced total headcount by 10 to 276 employees, with all the redundancies having come from production staff.

As a result of these measures, the Leicester-based printer said it expected to return to "a minimum of break even" during its current financial year, which runs from 1 November 2009 to 31 October 2010.

Artisan also cut its hire purchase costs by around £2m, although its bank loans and overdrafts rose £1.6m to £2.4m in total.