Development director Karl Upchurch said: A lot has been going on in terms of rationalisation, and the current benchmarking process could see products moved across divisions. But our investment puts us in a good position for the changes we will see in 2003.

The total 1.5m investment includes five personalised Chequetronic cheque-printing machines, taking its total to nine, and two Buhrs and Mailcrafter inserters. The Lisburn facility will also increase its staff by 30 to 70.

Production between CSPs three UK sites in Lisburn, Crewe and Manchester can now be switched to meet demand due to common technical capabilities.