Agfa has secured a 1.5m-plus order for six Polaris CTP systems from Johnston Press printing division after three months of tests.

The regional newspaper group had been trialling a Polaris at its Peterboro Web site since last September. That site will install two systems, with another two for Portsmouth and two for Northampton.

"We normally sell them in twos, so this is a marvellous achievement," said Agfa UK Graphic Systems director Laurence Roberts.

He said Agfa had 26 Polaris units installed in the UK by the end of 2001. It has orders for 12 more, including Johnstons six, and Roberts target is a total installed base of 45 by the end of this year. Autologic, bought by Agfa last year, has eight systems installed in the UK.

But Roberts said CTP uptake among newspaper publishers was still "much slower than in the commercial market" and predicted that 2002 would "not be a year of massive growth" due to the advertising downturn.

Agfas recording film sales in the newspaper market grew last year, he said, even though the film market as a whole fell between 15% and 20%. "The newspaper industry is always conscious about radical change," he added. "There needs to be a catalyst."

The catalyst in Johnston Press case has been a 40m investment in new presses. Peterboro Web is installing a new eight-tower, 10-reelstand, two-folder Goss Universal, while Portsmouth is installing a single-folder model.

David Crow, managing director of Johnston Press printing division, said the Polaris systems would complement the new presses and upgrades within the group.

Story by Gordon Carson