Lincoln business Visual Print and Design made the decision to move from rented accommodation after six years of growth – and won a £40,000 grant from the Regional Growth Fund with the help of Lincoln Chamber of Commerce.
It is also in talks to acquire another print business.
The company moved into its new 186 sq m £200,000 home last month after renting since 2010 at city centre business and innovation centre The Think Tank, to allow it to continue expansion. Owner Graham Hunstone started as a sole trader from his Lincoln home in 2009 following redundancy.
Now managing director, Hunstone said: “Our mortgage payments are less than our rent was and the building is an asset to the company. We’ll be based here for the next five years.”
Hunstone invested £15,000 of his own money to add to £30,000 from the grant for the property deposit and added a further £20,000 to fit the building out. The new facility has a much larger area for print and finishing equipment, something the company will need as it is in the market for more digital presses and finishing equipment.
Currently it prints 20% of its work in-house following an £80,000 investment in May 2014 in a Xerox 770 printer, folding equipment, business card cutter and Tharstens MIS and contracts 80% out to a regular stable of five litho firms, but Hunstone told PrintWeek the company wants to grow its in-house digital offering as “digital is still growing and there’s quite a bit of profit”.
He has no plans for the company to start litho printing itself, saying that the company spends a lot of money with its suppliers, guaranteeing a good rate and service.
“I’ve always outsourced litho. I’ve been in the industry 20 years and I’ve seen lots of companies fold. The machines that are being installed in litho companies are making the prices come down.”
Clients include University of Lincoln, Linconshire County Council, The Canal and River Trust as well as football teams, the NHS and several local businesses.
The company achieved a £750,000 turnover in the financial year to end April 2015 and plans to expand from eight staff to 10 over the next year, including a second apprentice.
Other growth will come from the company’s web-to-print operation which is in the latter stages of development, with regular customers already using it. Over the next three months Visual Print Online will fully launch with template designs as a service to local small businesses and sole traders.
Hunstone puts his company’s success down to good suppliers and a focus on customer service.
“If someone comes in wanting a £20 business card order they get the exact same treatment as our biggest client. We say if you can print on it we can do it. We say yes and we figure out how to do it later.
“We won the Customer Service Award at the Lincolnshire Media Business Awards 2014 so we think that we are doing well in this. If you’re interested in your customers and you give them good customer service then they will always come back to you."
