中文A small commercial printer in the north-east of England has turned a backyard hobby into a fast-growing business with serious ambitions. Cut Print Solutions, based in Jarrow, South Tyneside, has secured a six-figure loan from the North East Elevate Fund — managed by finance house FW Capital — to scale its operations and push toward a stated goal of becoming a £1m-turnover company within the next few years.
The funding, received last month, is earmarked for upgrading the firm’s print equipment and underpinning a wider long-term growth strategy. Established in 2023 by Madge and Stephen Downey, Cut Print Solutions offers commercial print services spanning wide-format work, custom cut stickers, banners, fine art and cut vinyl. From the outset, the business has experienced what Madge Downey describes as “really strong growth,” and this investment, she says, will help “take the business to the next level.”
The expansion is already visible on the production floor. Four weeks ago the company installed a Fujifilm Revoria EC1100 production printing press to boost operational capacity. In the past week alone a Duplo DC-618 slitter/cutter/creaser and a guillotine were added. Additional grant money from the government, expected in September, will help fund a Plockmatic PBM5000 bookletmaker and a Plockmatic FB9500 Pro-T automated digital flatbed die-cutter and tangential creaser.
Downey is clear about what the new machinery means in practice. “The new equipment will significantly increase our production capacity, allow us to bring more work in-house and give our customers faster turnaround times while maintaining the quality and service we’ve built our reputation on,” she said. The business also plans to expand its current team of eight, with the funding already supporting increased hours for existing staff.
There is, however, a very practical constraint: space. With the additional machinery arriving, the site is getting tight. Downey told Printweek that the upcoming installs will likely mean “we’re probably going to have reached capacity space wise.” The Plockmatic kit helps bring finishing work in-house, while the Fujifilm press has strengthened the firm’s banner offering thanks to its long-sheet capability. “It’s about bringing more in-house, being able to offer more for the customer and at a better speed,” she summed up.
The path to here was anything but corporate. Cut Print Solutions began with Downey cutting vinyl on a plotter in a shed at home. “Then I got a really old large-format machine and I started printing a few banners,” she recalled. Her husband was made redundant around the same time, and the couple decided to go for it. “We gave ourselves six months if we’d be able to do it, and it just kicked off.” Her husband brought a background in website and print design; everything else, she says, has been “self-taught.”
Customers today arrive through eBay, Etsy and Amazon, and include print managers, local businesses and events operators. The Fujifilm press was originally planned as an addition to an existing machine, but ended up replacing it after the previous press failed during a power surge a week before the new one arrived. The Duplo, meanwhile, replaced an older machine that Downey hopes will find a new home with another company just starting out.
The North East Elevate Fund is designed to help businesses in the region scale and innovate, and forms part of North East Mayor Kim McGuinness’s £100m regional investment framework. James Holloway, external engagement officer at North East Fund, said Cut Print Solutions is “exactly the sort of business the Fund was established to support — a fantastic local organisation demonstrating strong growth and a commitment to the local area.” Ruby Knowles, assistant investment executive at FW Capital, added that the company is “experiencing significant growth” and “growing their customer base and increasing their capacity.”
The deal is a useful case study in how regional public funding can de-risk expansion for smaller printers that mainstream banks might otherwise overlook. By blending a repayable loan with a forthcoming capital grant, the owners can bring finishing in-house — bookletmaking and die-cutting — without taking on punitive debt, protecting margins on shorter-run, higher-mix work that is the lifeblood of a business of this size. It also illustrates a wider resilience in UK regional print: while the headlines are dominated by plant closures and consolidation among the largest groups, a layer of agile micro-printers is quietly thriving by serving e-commerce sellers, events companies and local brands that value speed and personal service over volume.
For a sector often preoccupied with consolidation and closures, the Cut Print Solutions story is a reminder that grassroots entrepreneurship is still alive in print. A husband-and-wife team, a shed, a second-hand machine and a six-month bet have become a regional success story backed by public investment — and a business now planning its next, much larger chapter. If the space constraint is the main ceiling on growth, the next milestone may simply be a bigger building rather than a better machine.
Source: Printweek (Hannah Davenport), 7 September 2026.
