Part of a £200,000 spend that includes a web-to-print system for the 13-staff company, the new press is already up and running and expected to bring in up to £500,000 of extra work over the next 12 months.

Director Pete Nelson said he was "very pleased".

"The quality is fantastic. It doesn't have a digital look to the print. It's difficult to tell whether the print has come from the MGi or our six-colour Komori," he said.

One of the main attractions of the press for Nelson is its ability to print 1020x330mm using standard stocks - it believes it is one of only three printers in the UK able to do this. "Being able to print 6-page A4 landscape is perfect for us. We print a lot of property brochures for multi-million pound houses. We'd like to be able to really target this with short run personalisation."

The 20-year-old business also prints booklets, media packs and other general commercial work and is hoping that the MGI machine's ability to print on a wide range of substrates will open doors to design agencies in the capital.

Currently the MGI handles runs up to a few thousand, depending on pagination, with longer runs on a six-colour B1 Komori LS640 with coater and replaces an ageing HP Indigo.

Nelson said the machine has been absolutely reliable so far and while it doesn't operate on a click charge basis, consumables costs are still a factor: so the value of a static click charge of 3 or 4p a sheet varies in comparison with printing on the MGi machine depending on ink coverage.

Nelson said financing the investment was difficult, which the £2m-turnover company achieved through its broker, because of the 'fear factor' associated with the resale value of digital equipment. However, as the MGI isn't tied into a licence agreement in the same way that machines from other digital vendors are, this should be less of an issue, he said.

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MGi targets increased UK presence following Meteor DP 8700 XL launch

M Partners brings MGI Meteor DP 8700XL to the UK