Wyndeham recorded an interim pre-tax loss after exceptional items and goodwill amortisation of 113,000, compared to a profit of 6.6m this time last year.

Turnover rose 5.4% to 62.5m for the six months to 30 September.

Chief executive Bryan Bedson said the group was seeing signs of recovery, and believed there were "good prospects for growth" beyond the present year.

He said Wyndeham had become "considerably more technologically advanced than its competitors at a time when they will find it difficult to close that gap".

Around 80% of the titles printed at ET Heron, including PrintWeek, are now produced CTP. The group also installed a 64pp MAN Roland web at the plant.

Turnover in Wyndeham's magazine division suffered due to advertising reductions. Bedson said price-cutting by some competitors continued to blight the web offset market.

The group's Albert Gait plant has picked up new contracts from rail companies and Railtrack.

Wyndeham is also considering offers for the land on which Riverside Packaging in Newbury is sited. But it has put plans to sell the division on hold for the time being.

[o]Production is back to normal at Essex-based web printer ET Heron, after a gas explosion last Friday (23 November) halted production for most of the day while safety checks were carried out. No-one was hurt in the incident.

Story by Gordon Carson