In results published on Tuesday, the firm revealed that its services would become available in France from September.

The AIM-listed firm has chosen to set up a team itself rather than to grant a master licence to a local printer, and work will initially be printed through Printing.com’s Manchester hub, which doubled in capacity last year following the installation of a double-decker Komori Lithrone 440SP.

Tony Rafferty, Printing.com chief executive, said: “It will be good to have the volumes come through Manchester. We will incubate the firm in France but hopefully, in due course, we will sell it to management, perhaps with the backing of private equity.”

France will be Printing.com’s third overseas market, adding to an operation in Ireland and a master licensee in New Zealand, which has now been trading for a year.

A licence has also been granted in a fourth country, which has so far only been identified as “a small country in terms of population but with an affluent population”.

In the US, Rafferty said that talks were reaching an advanced stage with a printer on the East Coast who would become a master licensee, giving it access to Printing.com’s branding, business model and FlyerLink software.

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PRINTING.COM 2007 RESULTS
Total retail sales £21.3m (2006: £18.2m)
Turnover £12.1m (£11.9m)
Pre-tax profit £2.3m (£2.2m)
UK/Ireland operations 205 (166)
UK hub Manchester