Chairman Charles Grant-Salmon (pictured) said the move was made in response to customer demand and would complement the group's activity in database management through its Addition arm.

"A lot of customers were requesting [full-colour digital] so we can see an opportunity for cross-selling and more importantly it takes Addition into a new area," he said.

Grant-Salmon said the 110ppm iGen3 was "in a different league" to other digital presses on the market. "We did consider going for a smaller machine first but even the ones from Xerox themselves weren't quick enough and didn't have the capacity for the requirement we've already got," he said.

The Kettering-based direct mail house spent 1.1m at Ipex. It also signed a deal with Integra International for a Sitma 950 poly enclosing line and a Sitma SM15 paper enclosing line, along with a Herzog & Heymann card affixing machine and two stackers from Friedheim International.

Grant-Salmon said the group now had the capacity to produce 200m paper and 150m poly direct mail packs per annum.