He said this after predicting a bright 2005 for the Cheltenham-based company, building on improved results in 2005.

But Frings warned that the sector could be getting a bad name with unnamed companies "trying to commoditise their service". "The risk is that more and more clients will turn away from print management," he said. "Our approach is that staff should talk more to clients."

He added: "At the recent Print Forum for Print Buyers [staged by PrintWeek's sister title PrintBuyer] it was interesting speaking to the big companies who had hired print management firms but were not seeing any added benefits, so they brought buying in-house."

Target Direct Print improved its figures for the year ending 31 December 2004 and Frings reckoned the company would achieve further growth in 2005.

Turnover had risen to 7.2m, up 16% on 2003. Pre-tax profit more than doubled, rising 115% to 302,134.

"We are particularly strong in two sectors where direct mail is growing charity and travel," said Frings. "I think basing our business model on service has also helped us."

Frings added that Target Direct Print is well on target to boost turnover this year, to around 8.5m. "Year on year, we are where we want to be," he said. "I am very confident we can continue to grow. We are very bullish."

At the end of 2004 Target Direct Print joined marketing group Cello after it bought parent firm Target Direct Marketing. The print management company launched its pre-press service earlier this year.

Story by Philip Chadwick