Chairman George Hardie told shareholders at the company's AGM in Manchester this morning that, since the company's last market update, trading had remained at "a similar level".

Rafferty added: "It's only about six or seven weeks since we last updated the market and I guess overall the trends are broadly similar. We never know what's going to be round the corner, but the fact it hasn't really got any worse isn't a bad thing."

The Manchester-based print franchise company said it expected promotional initiatives to continue to play a greater part in the sales mix than in previous years and stressed that it would continue to provide support for its franchise network through additional centrally funded promotions.

Rafferty said: "Last financial year we probably put £150,000 into promotions and it wouldn't surprise me if it was a similar amount this year. We're not just in the business of selling wholesale value, we're in the business of actually helping our franchises to win that work and I think it's appropriate at the moment that we dig a bit deeper and work a bit harder to that end."

He added that he believed the company is winning market share and that it would be well-placed to capitalise on any future market recovery.

"Speaking to prospective bolt-on franchises we're hearing that it is still very, very difficult out there. Small printers who have got two- and four-colour presses are reporting turnover is 30-40% down," he said.

"We believe, if you take the administration on an order, that our system saves an hour per job. So for graphic design and print businesses that are needing to downsize and maybe lose staff, the bolt-on fits in with what they want to do."