PRINTING giant Prinovis UK saw profits soar as it continued to grow both its printing and bagging businesses.

The company, which owns the giant Prinovis printing plant in Speke, saw sales rose from £76.6m in 2009 to £85.5m in 2010.

Pre-tax profits stood at £17.5m – up from £5.4m in 2009.

The plant, which employs 450 people, prints and bags products from national newspapers to catalogues for leading retailers.

In a report recently filed at Companies House, director Richard Gray said: “In 2010 the printing side of the business continued to develop well, while polybagging volumes exceeded expectations. Overall tonnage produced in the UK during 2010 was 180,000 tonnes (2009: 165,000 tonnes).

“Investment activity was considerably lower in the year with capital spend (net of grants received) of £1.8m (2009: £3.4m).

“Prinovis UK expects 2011 to show a continued improvement in both financial and operational performance.”

He added: “The principal risks and uncertainties facing the company are, on the whole, operational in nature. The company has installed relatively few items of equipment during 2010.

“The company relies heavily on one major customer, News International, but the number of different titles with this customer and the length of the contract mitigates some of this risk.”

Since the year end, Prinovis has seen News International close the News of the World.

In an interview with the trade press last month, Mr Gray said Fabulous magazine, which Prinovis printed, had switched to The Sun. But he said Prinovis would be affected as it was no longer polybagging the News of the World.