The division will sit alongside Kern Mail and Kern Pack, the company's existing sectors.

As part of the division, Kern has signed supply agreements with newspaper inserter manufacturer Kansa Technology, UV curing manufacturer Prime UV, handling and storage manufacturer VR Handling and fellow finishing equipment manufacturer Sitech.

It also encompasses a partnership agreement with Kodak, which sees Kern become the exclusive UK distributor of Kodak’s one- and two-inch inkjet heads. Kern already uses the inkjet heads on its own equipment.

The two companies had worked together previously, but Kodak wanted a strategic distribution partner with the infrastructure to provide sales and engineering sales support to mailing houses, such as TNT.

Kern UK general manager Peter Jolley said: "We have been working with some of these partners for several years. However, we’ve noticed a significant increase in sales and interest in print supplies recently so dedicating resources towards this makes good commercial sense."