The barrier for entry into PrintWeek's Top 500 has risen again, to just over £4m.

This is despite merger activity at the top of the tables that has created fewer, larger, print groups.

At the top of the tables there are some significant changes among print's biggest players, with St Ives overtaking Polestar, and Chesapeake (including Field, First Carton and Boxmore International) taking second spot behind Rexam.

And while some firms have made impressive growth in sales, the analysis of profitability across all 500 companies in the survey is more worrying.

This reveals that the figures for average profitability have continued to decline, with operating profits down to 3.87% and pre-tax profits slipping below 3%.

"Our analysis of turnover bands shows that in almost every single banding profitability continues to fall Ð the industry is working harder, not smarter," said Daniel Smith, a partner at RSM Robson Rhodes, which compiles the Top 500 data with PrintWeek.