In the 12 months to 30 June sales at the West Midlands-based group rose 14.3% to 27.75m, and operating losses reduced by 54% to just over 1m.

The retained loss for the year was 1.54m, and the AIM-listed group will not pay a dividend  for the fourth year running.

Chairman John Wheatley was upbeat about progress, and said the firm had been transformed from "predominantly a section magazine printer to a group specialising in niche magazine titles and press finished products".

"We are now seeing the benefits of a lot of hard work across the business. I think there's plenty of work out there for companies the size of Cradley who can be flexible and add value," he said. "We have established ourselves in the sector of the magazine market where we want to be and where we see customers want us to add value for them."

A raft of continuous improvement techniques has helped Cradley push up gross profit margins to 12%, but Wheatley said there was still much more to do: "I believe that we have only really just started on the long road to total efficiency and there are still many areas of our processes that can benefits by the implementation of continuous improvement programmes," he stated.

The firm has also agreed "significant" changes in working practices with the union, which took effect in October.

Sales in the publishing division, where Cradley took total ownership of the Britespot and Finz subsidiaries, were static. Since the year-end it also acquired the goodwill and some assets of 3D Publishing.

"Long-term we are looking to grow the publishing side, but we are very careful to make sure we don't have conflicts with our clients," Wheatley added.

Story by Jo Francis