The system was installed in late February and capped off a year-long re-equip at the Jersey-based mailing and commercial print operation.

It represents the final £55,000 spend in a total of around £750,000 that began when Mailmate took on a Sakurai 466 LED UV press in February 2018. Further investments into digital printing, lamination and foiling have taken place in the interim.

Managing director Neil Faudemer said: “We were upgrading from a Watkiss with the new Horizon because we had seen a considerable increase in the demand for our booklet work in the financial sector. Looking at the market, the SPF-200L fitted our requirements the best and importantly its smaller footprint works with our limited space.

“Robustness and reliability were also important considerations. It can enhance our volumes and allows us to produce more on the island rather than outsourcing. We have always been heavy investors in new technology, so this latest spending drive is just a continuation of that.

“We perceived a move away from email marketing back to low-volume direct marketing with high-end customers so everything we have installed will allow us to accommodate that. It fleshes out our services, but we have stayed true to our core of printing.”

The 4,500bph Horizon SPF-200L bookletmaker joins a number of new machines that includes the Sakurai press, a new Roland DG VersaUV LEJ-640 wide-format printer (Mailmate’s third  Roland) and an LEF-300 UV flatbed, alongside a new duplex version of the Vivid Matrix 530 laminator.

Turning over £2.5m, Mailmate Print operates over two premises on the island of Jersey: its main office, litho and digital are all based in St Aubin, while wide-format and fulfilment are in St John.

In 2015, the firm took on a contract to provide the print and mailing for Jersey Post by acquiring the entity's specialised wing for £300,000, and it continues to fulfil this work today.