Deltas sales director, Peter Newton, said the investment showed that not everyone was suffering in the downturn in the advertising and print industries.

"Retail, which is where we do a lot of business, is booming in the UK at the moment, and were projecting that our increased production capacity will add as much as 5m of sales this year," he said. Deltas current annual turnover is around 25m.

The firm is adding capacity in both silkscreen and litho printing and investing in CTP, said Newton.

It has installed a Sam-X four-colour silk screen press capable of printing at up to 2.55x1.65m, which Newton described as "the most expensive but also the best-quality device in its class".

Delta also added a brand new MAN Roland 900 six-colour, large-format press (up to A0) to its existing two Roland 800 presses.

The 900 can print A0-format output at up to 13,000sph. "Its fast, but the output is also top quality, which is important for us, as we have a lot of high-profile customers, including most of the major film studios, who have to have the best," said Newton.

"We considered alternatives, but stuck with Roland because we already know the technology, and the 900 can print onto plastic, which is important for us," he added.

Delta plans to invest a further 1.5m in an expansion to its 18,000m2 factory in Walthamstow, east London.

Story by Paul Nesbitt