Denton stepped down from his position at the St Andrew's based firm in February, less than two years after taking up the role.

Although Chapman, like Denton, is a recruit from outside of the paper industry, he has gained some insight into the business having been managing director of reel-to-reel printer and paper bag manufacturer Bibby & Baron.

The Scottish independent speciality paper producer has recently refocused its business to concentrate on the markets for graphical, converting, security and speciality publishing papers.

Sales turnover in 2004 was 35m.