Pipe, who stepped down as managing director of Rhapsody in September 2017 and exited the wider Walstead Group altogether at the end of January 2018, started at Southwark, London-based F1 Colour earlier this month in the newly created role.

Pipe has spent his career in magazine publishing, packaging and brand management. He joined the Wyndeham Group in 2009 and took up the post of Rhapsody managing director in 2012.

Pipe told PrintWeek: “I’ve known Ken [Harrison, F1 Colour founding director] and Jamie [Robinson, systems director] for a long time – around 20 years. It’s a company that I know well – I know its strengths and some of the opportunities that are there. It’s exciting, it’s a small company that’s been here for 26 years and there’s a lot more that we can do.

“If it hadn’t been for the fact it was a company like F1, I wouldn’t have thought of doing more than a non-executive or strategic role. But having said that, it’s all about strategy and where we can take this business.”

He added his day-to-day role will involve “looking at where the markets are that F1 Colour are in and where they sit within that, and what they might do to bring a broader offering to those sectors”. A particular focus will be on driving growth through multi-channel content delivery, Pipe said.

Harrison added: “Les has a proven track record of growing and expanding businesses in our sector and we are very excited to be working with him. Having just celebrated 26 years of F1 Colour it’s good to have a fresh perspective on the business, and we are looking forward to our next exciting chapter.”

Established in 1992, eight-staff F1 Colour delivers print and other media production services for a number of large UK brands and agencies. It operates Epson proofers driven by GMG RIP software and also has its own in-house photography studio.