Reigate, which has sales of 400,000, needed to invest 300,000 in new machinery or look to merge, and 900,000-turnover Summit had been on the acquisition trail for a couple of years, said Summit managing director Neil Parsons.

We put the word out to paper reps and were introduced to Reigate last December, he added.

Reigate will move to the 15-staff Summit site and three of its six staff will transfer, including managing director John Stimson, who will become a consultant.

Reigates three Heidelberg presses are being sold off and the merged company, which is predominantly B3, will use presses including a five-colour GTO, two two-colour Ryobis and two Canon digital printers.