Marketing director Chris Brown said Favini's Meerssen and Rosanno Veneto mills would both aim to be certified to FSC standards, joining its Apeldoorn mill, certified in April this year.

At the same time, Favini is also keen to get its Dutch Ivory Board FSC certified.

Favini's UK sales office, which until 2003 was an agency, is now a fully integrated sales office within the Favini group.

"It underlines our commitment to the UK through high-value-added branded products," Brown added.

The company is interested in the long-term future commitment to the UK market, and this will be further underlined with a new addition to the UK salesforce.

Favini will look at acquisitions in the next 18 months, and is seeking to establish a form of endorsement or quality mark for its genuine Dutch Ivory Board.

Brown said the company was in the process of discussing the quality mark sign with its merchant stockists in the UK. However, the emphasis for Favini at present was still on the bedding in of Meerssen & Palm, which it acquired in 2000.

Once that has been completed, which he envisaged would still be at least some 12-18 months away, Brown said the group was keen to play a part in the consolidation of the industry through acquisition.

The group is looking at further spending on improving product quality and colour consistency, which will include investment in process controls.

Brown said Favini had spent 13m (E20m) on its Crusinallo mill, which it acquired five years ago.

Key product developments are being worked on, and Brown said Favini is keen to refresh its environmental range, which includes the Alga Carta grade, and its Marsana recycled paper.

"We want it to be a high-quality, strong, ecological offering of products," he said.