Quickcut has started its European expansion programme by appointing a well-known German newspaper industry figure to front its continental operations.


Hans-Dieter Grtner, former managing director of Zeitungs Marketing Gesellschaft, the central marketing organisation for German newspapers, will run the firms Frankfurt operation, which opens in the spring, as Quickcut Europe chief executive.


The firm, which primarily supplies digital advertising transmission systems to newspaper and magazine publishers, also plans to open offices in Spain, Italy and Scandinavia, among others, over the next two years.


The Quickcut system handles all file formats but the file format delivered to a publisher is dictated by that publisher.


UK users include The Daily Telegraph, The Express and the Financial Times. News International has bought the system but not gone live with it yet, while Reed Business Information uses the system for 22 of its magazines.