Following in the footsteps of other Northcliffe Press operations, Westcountry Publications has hived off its print division.
Design & Print has been set up as a sister company to the Plymouth based Westcountry Publications and will continue to print the publishers four daily papers and nine weeklies. Around 200 staff have been transferred to the new company.
Design & Prints commercial director Paul Edwards said: "It was decided that Design & Print be set up in order that each company could concentrate on its own specific areas and clients.
"There arent a great deal of new publications entering the market at the moment, so were looking, through Design & Print to increase our market share in personalised newsletters for companies."
Design & Print has three web offset presses - a double width Goss HT60 at Plymouth and two single widths at Exeter - a Supergazette and a Halley Aller.
The company intends to invest 1.5m in its Exeter plant in July. An Agfa Polaris CTP system is being installed and the capacity of the Supergazette increased from eight to 32 pages.
"When weve talked to customers theyve said they want more colour pages in their publications so were doing this to keep one step in front of the competition," said Edwards.
Other Northcliffe Press printers to have gone it alone include Sentinel Colour Print in Stoke-on-Trent and Triangle Print in Nottingham.
Prior to the setting up of Design & Print, Westcounty Publications turnover was 53m a year.