In the statement, released this morning ahead of the group’s AGM, the £317m turnover group said that sales in the period since 3 August had been “broadly flat” due to the combination of new revenues from its marketing services operations offsetting the disposal of the St Ives Bradford business in September.

St Ives said its remaining print operations – Clays, SP Group and Service Graphics – were “performing well” despite challenging conditions.

The group also noted that cross-selling efforts of group services was resulting in organic growth “driven primarily by the positive effect of the increasing cross-fertilisation between our businesses and the integrated offering that they can now provide.”

An example is work for retailer Wilkinson, where what was originally a point-of-sale contract has now been extended to include in-store experiential marketing via Tactical Solutions.

Separately, St Ives has now established offices in Singapore and New York to meet client demand for its marketing services offer, and still remains on the lookout for suitable acquisitions to further expand that part of its offering.

The firm’s share price rose by 3.33p in early trading to 184p. The 52-week high is 188p, low 100p.