£10m commitment to colour digital technology

RNS REACH

1 March 2012

Communisis plc

("Communisis" or the "Group")

Communisis commits further £10 million to colour digital technology

- Communisis further strengthens transactional marketing capabilities with additional employment of HP Inkjet technology -

 - Culmination of four year technology plan keeps Communisis ahead of the industry -

Leading Marketing Services Provider, Communisis plc (LSE: CMS) has made a £10 million commitment to two state-of-the art HP T400 Color Inkjet Web Press lines. This announcement signals the culmination of a four year development plan, which has seen the business significantly enhance its customer communications capabilities through development of its data and analysis services and advanced marketing technologies.

Communisis is the first company in the UK to install T400 technology, which delivers superior quality; fully variable, digital colour output at unprecedented speed; and significant efficiency benefits.

The Group has been at the forefront of high-speed colour digital technology deployment. Two HP T300 lines were installed in the Leeds facility during 2010 and 2011 and Communisis has worked with 18 major customers to date to realise the benefits of the technology platform.  The first T400 line has already been installed and the second will follow in June 2012. Both will be sited at the Group's centre for Transactional excellence in Liverpool.

The installation also trebles digital capacity across the Group and allows all the existing transactional production to be migrated onto a digital print platform. Consequently, from June 2012, Communisis will have the ability to produce digitally about 30% of its current six billion page output. Centrica is the first customer to adopt the T400 technology in Liverpool and this product has been in the market since February 2012. A number of the Group's other major transactional customers are expected to adopt the T400 technology and access the benefits of putting personalised marketing messages onto bills and statements ("transpromotional communication").

The technology creates a unified platform across both of Communisis' key sites, capable of delivering output across any business line.

The relationship with HP enables a more flexible printed transactional communications process, allowing individual print runs and eliminating the need for pre-printed stationery and storage. The T400's ability to tackle variable data will provide a more efficient delivery process for Royal Mail through its grouping of mail by location destination.

The additional T400 lines in Liverpool will result in the creation of up to 50 full time staff positions, with a further commitment to training so that existing staff may be upskilled to enable them to migrate to the new platform.

Commenting on the announcement, Andy Blundell, Chief Executive of Communisis said:

"The commitment to the T400 technology by Communisis confirms our leadership position in the emerging market for high speed colour digital in the UK. The move is driven by our key transactional customers wishing to access benefits which include greater bill clarity and personalised marketing communication. Initial customer test data on improved response rates is very encouraging. Building on the success of our earlier T300 deployment at Leeds, this is pioneering technology and our strong relationship with HP has ensured both an effective installation with great support plus a roadmap to ongoing technology upgrades."

Aurelio Maruggi, Vice President and General Manager, Inkjet High-speed Production Solutions, HP said:

"Communisis provides an excellent example of how HP Inkjet Web Press technology makes companies more efficient and more productive. This latest commitment will allow Communisis to transform its production environment by transitioning one-colour pages printed on roll-fed devices to full-colour, high-impact personalised pages."

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About Communisis

Communisis is a UK leading Marketing Services Provider, specialising in helping customers make their communications processes more profitable. It helps to reduce costs and improve the effectiveness of the whole business process of customer communications.

Through its proven experience and scale, it works with clients to transform their customer communications processes by enhancing and deploying customer data; providing technology to automate and streamline workflows; and has world-class production capabilities that can output via print and electronic channels.

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