The Kettering-based mailing house has placed an order in excess of £250,000 for a Buhrs BB700 enclosing machine, which is due to be installed in the next couple of weeks.

4DM managing director James Portsmouth said that the company made the investment after a decent month of trading in June.

He added: "The market seems to have picked up a bit. As a business, we like to keep our kit up-to-date. Direct mail is definitely recovering. We are busy now and we should be over the next couple of months.

"Marketers are realising that they have to start spending, advertising and talking to their customers again. This is a busy period usually because of the lead-up to Christmas. Of course, there are also less players in the markets as well; unfortunately there are a lot of companies that have gone to the wall.

"In the current market you can go two ways, but your clients are not going to be happy if you are turning away their work because you don't have the capacity."

According to Portsmouth, the machine will enable 4DM to handle up C4 jumbo work alongside its current machines, which can handle C4, C5 and DL.

Story updated in response to Lance Hill's comment below