A BANBURY printing company is to get a £2m boost as part of a £27m investment plan by the Goodhead Group.

Stones, on the Wildmere Industrial Estate, which has been printing in Banbury for 153 years and was the Magazine Printing Company of the Year in 2005, will use the £2m to improve its support to sister company BGP in Bicester.

BGP will get a £25m injection to turn it into the UKs largest web-offset print site, serving five print markets including magazines, directories, catalogues, general commercial print, and special projects.

Reading football club owner John Madejski, chairman of the Goodhead Group, parent company of BGP and Stones, is the key investor in the deal.

He said: "This is a major investment for the company and one that will take us to the top of the printing league as the UK's largest web-offset printing plant.

"It allows us to address our clients' future printing needs, putting our team in a strong position going forward and providing more opportunities for BGP and our customers."

The investment includes two new 72-page presses for BGP which with two existing 72-page presses, will provide the firm with up to 50 per cent of the top-of-the-range printing capacity in the UK.

BGP is the only printer with more than one 72-page press within the same facility.

David Holland, chief executive of the Goodhead Group, said: "These presses will generate low unit costs and enable us to compete successfully in increasingly competitive print markets.

"We are taking BGP into a new era by investing in value and technological efficiencies to benefit our current and future customers."

Stones have been printing in Banbury for 153 years.