The loss compared with a profit of £340,000 in the like-for-like period last year.

Total sales, including consumables and media, digital electronic, wide format and finishing equipment for the first half came in at £18.9m – down 26% from £25.4m in the six months to 30 June 2008.

The supplier's net borrowing figure at 30 June 2009 was £3.2m.

Litho Supplies cited the loss of two large customers that went into liquidation in 2008, coupled with the decline in the sales of consumables products, as significant factors in the reduction in sales.

To offset the decline in capital equipment purchases, the company is concentrating on serving its consumable products clients, while attempting to bring new business to the fray.

Williams said: "With the changes we've made, we're now ready for the upturn once confidence returns."

Litho Supplies chief executive Michael Hammond added the first half of the year "had continued to be a challenging environment in which to operate".

He said: "Uncertainty in financial markets and overcapacity in the printing industry have contributed to suppressed revenues and margins."

Earlier in August, Mitsubishi Lithographic Presses handed the sales, customer support and marketing for its UK and Ireland sheetfed businesses to Litho Supplies.

In a statement, Bernard Clark, chairman of Litho Supplies, said the recent partnership agreement with Mitsubishi "should offer opportunities for sales of printing presses, as well as an opportunity to increase service revenues".

However, shareholders reacted badly to the company's first-half results, prompting an 18% fall in share price at the time of writing.