PRINTING and direct mailing business K2 Group, which employs 300 people at its headquarters in Manchester, has been sold to a rival, creating a business with revenues of £120m and 1,100 staff.

K2, a £30m-turnover enterprise which is based in Kay Street, Openshaw, has been bought for an undisclosed sum by dsicmm Group, which has its head office in Rainham, Essex.

Chairman Kevan Coleman, 62, and group managing director Kevin Illingworth, 47, founded K2 in 1989 as a printing business employing 14 staff.

Today it counts corporate giants such as Vodafone, P&O Cruises, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB among its clients. K2 prints and sends out 250m mailings a year, including travel packs, customer offers and local authority postal ballots. It also provides data analysis.

Mr Coleman, whose son Michael and daughter Claire are directors in the business, and Mr Illingworth, are staying on following the deal.

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