H&H Group, which is an unquoted PLC with more than 1,000 shareholders, owns a diverse range of businesses, including livestock auction, land agency, vehicle finance, insurance and property sales.

Brian Richardson, chief executive of H&H Group, said: "The group has been a customer of Reeds for many years and we have always been impressed by the company's approach to quality and high levels of customer service.

"All our businesses are predominantly business-to-business so printing fits in well with our existing portfolio and provides considerable opportunity for growth in the future."

Joint managing directors Andy Jackson and Dene Marshall will continue to run the rebranded H&H Reeds Printers following the acquisition, which completed on 30 November.

"The key factor in our decision to purchase the business was the willingness of the two existing directors to remain in the business following our takeover," said Richardson.

"This is about building on the very strong foundation that Reeds has established, which we believe can grow even faster than planned for, by being part of a larger group."

The deal comes less than six months after the printer invested almost £1m in a Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 75-4+L press.

Jackson said: "The business has been very successful over the past few years and the investment in the new printing press demonstrated our long term ambitions for the business.

"While we were not looking to sell the company, the approach from H&H made commercial business sense as it provides us with the support of being part of a larger group while allowing us to continue to develop and drive the business forward."

Marshall added: "It was important to us that any deal we made was about continuing our success and maintaining and growing the business to ensure our team here may continue as before.

"We are delighted to become another company of the H&H Group and be part of its continued success. Customers will not see any changes – it will be business as usual except for the name."