A PRINTING company in the south that brings in more than £10m to the local economy is on a roll.

Award-winning Southernprint has reinforced its position among the top ten UK heatset magazine printers with a £7m investment.

A new Man Roland Lithoman IV press represents the lion's share of the £7m investment at the company, which prints and binds many of the nation's favourite magazines.

Together with a new binding line, it marks the final phase of a major expansion programme at Southernprint which began in the autumn of 2000. The total investment in the last three years is now close to £18m.

Southernprint employs 300 people in east Dorset and has an annual turnover of about £30m.

It was acquired by Newsquest, which publishes the Southern Daily Echo, in June 2000.

Managing director Stephen Clark said: "Southernprint now boasts some of the most advanced and efficient printing presses in the UK.

"As a major employer - the workforce at our Upton and Ferndown sites now exceeds 300 - we inject more than £10m into the local economy each year."

Southernprint's latest investment has created 12 posts with the addition of the new binding line and secured existing jobs.

The 1980mm-wide Man Roland Lithoman IV press is capable of printing 72 pages at A4 size. It has a printing speed of 42,500 copies per hour.

It has increased Southernprint's production capacity by 25 per cent.

The new Man Roland Lithoman IV has replaced two Komori presses installed in 1990 and 1988. Both have been mothballed.