The Hull-based printer specialises in the wet-glue label sector and also runs a Comco reel-fed press and a five-colour B2 Mitsubishi. It employs 16 staff and has sales of over 1m.

Bailey praised the reliability and print quality of Mitsubishi presses, and said he hadnt seen a Mitsubishi engineer for 12 months apart from when they "occasionally pop in and say hello".

When considering the firms latest investment, Bailey looked at "everything and anything" from Mitsubishi and its competitors, but there was "nothing better than what we have".

Roy Jenkinson, sales director of Mitsubishi Lithographic Presses (MLP) UK (pictured), said market conditions were better than last year and that his firm had set a sales target of 30 presses this year, six above last years total.

"While there have been a lot of casualties this year, in a perverse way it gives those who are thinking of going forward and updating their equipment a comforting feeling," he added.

Jenkinson said MLP UK had enjoyed year-on-year growth since it "restarted" operations in the second half of 1999. "Were coming from a different angle than other press suppliers that had big market shares that they had to hold on to," he said.

The firm has made inroads into the greetings card market this year with the installation of a press at Loudwater in Milton Keynes, while it gained a foothold in the packaging market with a sale to Cambridge-based Firstan.

MLP now has 150-160 presses installed in the UK and, according to Jenkinson, most of its success has come on the back of demonstrations at its Leeds showroom.

The site houses a five-back-five perfecting press and a six-colour with coater. A dedicated packaging press will go live from August.

Story by Gordon Carson