As of the beginning of this month the Edotech operations acquired by Astron in April for 130m have also been rebranded under the Document Services banner.

Group chief executive David Mitchell said the Edotech acquisition had "gone really well".

Mitchell was in India this week for the opening of a facility in Chennai, where Astron has doubled the size of the business process outsourcing operation it acquired from Hays last year. Staff numbers have increased from 400 to 800 and the new 5,000 metres squared facility has the capacity for 2,000 seats.

The Chennai BPO operation handles data capture and processing for a variety of clients, including some that use Document Services for statement printing. "It's about the full document lifecycle and a real step forward from where we were," added Mitchell, who described the expansion as a "fundamental transformation" of the BPO business.

Story by Jo Francis