The Leicester-based company has installed a WPM inline closed-end mailer and will also be adding two Buhrs enclosing machines in the first half of this month.

According to GI Direct's sales director Patrick Headley, the investment will increase capacity and enable the firm to offer more complex services.

He said: "The new machines can handle C4 enclosing, which is quite nice. It is always good to have a selection of machines to turn to."

GI Direct said it invested in the machines following an increase in its workload from two clients. These contracts are set to further expand later in the year.

GI Direct, which is part of the GI Solutions Group, expects most of its increased workload to come from within the door-drop production sector.

The introduction of a closed-end mailer has enhanced GI Direct's inline production of mail packs and also raised capacity to nearly 3m copies per day.

The installation of the Buhrs machines is expected to increase the company's capacity by about 300,000 items per day.

Headley added: "The recession has hit the direct marketing sector hard. Consequently marketers have looked to stretch their squeezed budgets. As a result we have been experiencing higher demand for fast campaign turnaround that is cost-efficient."

The GI Solutions Group employs a staff of around 200 and has a turnover of slightly under £30m.