The investment, which will upgrade colour production at the Docklands base, follows Rupert Murdoch's announcement of the 600m overhaul of his News International printing facilities.

A spokeswoman for Desmond's Express Newspapers said that the group would spend the cash on the Docklands plant "over the next few months".

A team from West Ferry was scouting the halls at Ifra in Amsterdam, but production director Brett Lawrence declined to give details on which kit was on the shopping list.

"We've been in discussions for the past few months over expansion on the colour side. We're that far behind that we need to work on colour," he said.

West Ferry has yet to install CTP, while many of its 18 Goss presses date back to the plant's construction in the mid-1980s. Investment at the plant had been on hold pending the sale of joint-owner The Telegraph Group to the Barclay brothers, and an end to the long-running boardroom feud between the two partners at West Ferry.

NI's confirmation last week that it has ordered 22 MAN Roland triple-width full-colour presses has put pressure on other newspaper publishers to upgrade if they are to continue to compete for advertising revenue.

Murdoch MacLennan, the new Telegraph Group chief executive, has begun his expected management shake-up just two weeks after starting in the role.

Managing director Hugo Drayton and finance director Niamh O'Donnell-Keenan departed last Tuesday afternoon, following MacLennan's appointment of Orange UK head John Allwood as executive director the week before.

Story by Josh Brooks