Mortons Print of Horncastle signed an order with Goss for an extension to its heatset Universal press at Drupa.
The press will gain an additional four-high tower, a second heatset dryer, and reelstand. The Universal was installed in the mid-1990s, and during the intervening period Mortons has increased its output from 1m copies per week to around 2m.The expansion will give Mortons eight more pages of colour.
David Stamp, Gosss director of marketing for Europe, said the newspaper press manufacturer had also agreed a deal with an Eastern European publisher, although he could not name the customer involved until final details had been tied up.
The Mortons deal comes only two weeks after Goss revealed that Surrey and Berkshire Newspapers had ordered a new Colorliner press.
Shane Lancaster, senior vice president of Goss and its UK general manager, said Heidelberg would have to introduce its newspaper press, the Mainstream, which it is showing at Drupa, in a controlled way. There is a lot of difference between folding one or two webs and doing ten or 12, he added. They will need to get a couple of installations before a customer will go for a large order. We always like a challenge.
Lancaster said he was confident about the future and said Goss was here for the long term. Two weeks ago the group announced that it had doubled sales in the first quarter of 2000, and was in the process of paying off its penultimate $20m instalment to vendors.