The Telegraph Group ordered seven Heidelberg Mainstream newspaper presses in a blaze of publicity at Drupa 2000.

It was Heidelberg's biggest order and the Telegraph Group was the first major newspaper group to commit to the Mainstream.

Two presses were installed at Trafford Park Printers in Manchester but the five Mainstreams bound for West Ferry, the London plant owned jointly with Express Newspapers, have yet to materialise.

The entire installation was expected to have been complete by the end of 2003. The Telegraph Group declined to comment on the presses. A spokeswoman said: "Everything is on hold pending the sale process we are going through."

Insiders at Goss have long believed the West Ferry presses would "never be installed" but the firm's takeover of Heidelberg's web division could herald a change of opinion.

And with Express owner Richard Desmond poised to take sole control of the huge printing plant after the Telegraph titles are sold, other West Ferry clients are expected to re-evaluate their production strategies.

"There must be a lot of people at the Guardian and Financial Times scratching their heads, wondering what their print strategy is for the future," said a source close to West Ferry.

West Ferry's Telegraph- and Express-generated sales fell by 21.7% and 10.7% respectively last year, and external clients now account for more than 50% of the firm's 78m turnover. Desmond's "Nazi" outburst at a West Ferry finance committee meeting last week provoked acres of national press coverage.

Story by Jo Francis