The closure of the deal last Friday (5 November) will bring a raft of investment in new products, which AB Dick (UK) will announce in the coming weeks.

AB Dick (UK) managing director Quen Baum said that the decision, taken last Wednesday (3 November) in a court in Cleveland "takes away all the uncertainty that has surrounded the business for the last three months".

"We know where we stand, who our owners are and what they want, and it allows us to drive forward the business and to make the necessary investment in product development and customer service," he said.

Baum said that there would be additions and changes to the product portfolio, as well as new R&D programmes, to be announced "over the coming weeks".

"Presstek has bought a very large company with many thousands of loyal customers," he said. "It's essential that we completely modernise and bring new products into the range, to make sure we've got the products we need to satisfy our customer base."

He added that he was happy that AB Dick had been bought by a technology company rather than an investment group.

The acquisition will pull AB Dick (US) out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which it fell into in July this year (PrintWeek, 15 July).

Presstek has announced its highest-ever third-quarter results, with revenue rising 51% year-on-year to 16.1m following the acquisition of Precision Lithograining Company.

Pre-tax operating profit for the quarter almost trebled year-on-year to 1.5m, compared to 555,000 for Q3 2003.

Story by Josh Brooks