Heidelbergs head of trade press relations, Hans Dieter Siegfried, said the company had taken the decision because it wanted to show its whole product portfolio, not just pre-media.

"A segment show such as Imprinta for Heidelberg is not interesting any more. We are focussing on CeBIT to show our whole solution," said Siegfried.

The news came as a surprise to Messe Dsseldorf project manager Manuel Matar, who said he had a meeting scheduled with Heidelberg for next week. "We heard some rumours about Heidelberg but they have not informed me of their decision," said Matar.

He said Heidelbergs decision not to attend would affect the size of the show, but that Imprinta would still see new companies, such as Ryobi, exhibiting for the first time.

Matar said 85 companies had so far confirmed and booked their places at the show out of the 133 companies listed on its website as either "interested or confirmed".

The cut-off date for bookings is 30 June 2002, but he said this would be extended.

Matar added that it was not a question of whether there were too many exhibitions, but rather if there were too many dedicated exhibitions.

"If we had kept Imprinta at the original date of June 2002, it would have been very difficult," said Matar, who felt the show was in a much better position to take advantage of any industry upturn.

Imprinta takes place from 20-25 February 2003, with CeBIT on 12-19 March.

Story by Andy Scott