The press equipment supplier suffered around £130,000 in bad debt during 2006, but the company still managed to post a pre-tax profit of £1.14m, compared to £1.25m in 2006.

Sales for the full year were £42.88m, compared to £44.05m in 2005.

Litho Supplies chief executive Michael Hammond said: “Without that debt, we would have made more profit, but that is the nature of the industry at the moment.”

He added that the company’s strategy was to venture into new markets,

as made evident by Litho Supplies’ mooted plans to link up with Graphic Arts Equipment to market Shinohara presses.

A Shinohara press will be featured on Litho Supplies’ stand at the Northprint exhibition in April.

The company is also selling Xerox office kit through its LS Digital arm, as well as distributing DuPont’s range of wide-format equipment.