Healeys Print Group has spent nearly £200,000 on a Kodak Nexpress S2500 to give "added wow factor" to short-run targeted work for marketing agencies and other clients.

Managing director Philip Dodd said the press offered dimensional print, spot gloss and ultra matt and he aimed to add metalised and neon capability in the near future. The new machine runs alongside a Ricoh 901, which will now be used for backup.

"Sadly saying you're a B2 litho printer does not get people yelping with joy these days," he said. "Litho will still drive volumes for some time, but if you want added-value services and are looking for 'wow factor' through touchy-feely matt or spot gloss this is one way to go about it.

"Digital represents almost 10% of our business and we needed to be able to reliably keep up with growth without comprising quality. Being able to print metallic golds and silvers is unique in digital. Added with the ability to spot gloss inline, this press really does offer something different."

Healeys spent £875,000 on a five-colour Heidelberg XL 75 with coater and Inpress control in February and the 31-staff business aims to bump up turnover from £3m to £3.6m next year. The company was not looking for large jobs but runs of around 1,000 offering makeready reductions.