The snapshot of the UK printing industry also showed that employment levels increased for the first time since the start of the Millennium and capital expenditure on plant and machinery is also expected to rise this year.

The BPIF added a note of cautious optimism to the findings. Director of corporate & external affairs Cicely Brown said: It is too early to tell if this will be a sustainable recovery. However it has to start somewhere, and hopefully this is it.

What we are seeing is that there are green shoots of recovery showing. The big question is whether it will continue into the year. At the moment it is too early to say,

Margins have improved through a combination of cost containment, higher selling prices and increased volumes. A net balance of +41 respondents reported an improved state of trade although this failed to live up to the prediction of +58 made in the Directions survey the previous quarter.

The percentage of firms working below capacity increased to 59% compared to 55% in the previous survey but 39% reported that order books were better compared to 30% in September.

Employment also increased for the first time in four years although the commercial printing sector continued to report large scale redundancies.

Economics analyst David Ross also urged readers to treat the report with some caution. He said that the improved margins were due to cost cutting rather than higher prices.

That can not go on forever and I think it is unlikely to figure in the next survey, he warned. The first quarter is always the worst one of the year while the fourth quarter is the best in the run up to Christmas. It should not be a surprise that things are better.

Story by Philip Chadwick