Continental transfer for printers

Football programme print firm HPM announced its own big money move as the transfer window slammed shut yesterday – a new £600,000 signing from Switzerland.

The County Durham firm, which produces programmes for Middlesbrough FC, Liverpool and Sunderland, has shipped in a £600,000 next-generation ‘perfect binding’ machine enabling it to create a book-like spine on its print lines.

HPM, based on Aycliffe Business Park, has produced Middlesbrough’s matchday magazine since the 1980s and over the years has printed them for Newcastle United, West Ham and Aston Villa.

The firm employs 45 staff and operates a 24-hour printing service, with a turnover of £4.5m a year, and also works with the likes of PWS, Wynyard Hall, Durham University and the University of Huddersfield.

Managing director Richard Mortimer said: “This new machine, shipped in from Switzerland, is the first of a new generation to be in operation in the UK.

“It means we’re now one of few printers in the country – and the only in the North-East – to have this new generation Perfect Binding machine, and since this investment we’ve already seen a significant increase in the number of Perfect Bound jobs."