"I think our presence at the show was completely and utterly justified and we're delighted with the response to the SPICA," said Komori UK head of marketing Philip Dunn.

The first firm to sign up for the SPICA 429P two-back-two convertible perfector was Edinburgh-based City Litho. With work  for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe already lined up for the press the firm took delivery of its machine direct from Komori's Northprint stand.

"We also expect the SPICA to take us into new markets such as book and journal work," said managing director Jim Cree.

The second order was from Darlington-based CP Offset, which signed for its SPICA on the show's second day.

"We looked at B2 presses between 300,000 and 400,000 but nothing in this range provided the flexibility of the SPICA," said managing director Andy Brown.

The 1.5m turnover commercial printer prints anything from business cards to books, including tearoom guides and recipe books for Trail Publishing, owned by Brown and CP sales director Duncan Allison.

Story by Darryl Danielli