Diamond’s printing work is proving to dye for

The Sheffield-based ink specialists, founded in 2007 by Peter Callahan and Sue Wright, said sales in November last year topped £120,000 and sales in December, when the firm only traded for two weeks as all goods for export had to be despatched by a certain date, were at £72,000. That represents a 60 per cent increase on December 2011 and 82 per cent increase on November 2011.

The company, which recently won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade, said it saw “a significant increase” in demand for its dispersions in the global market of dye sublimation. In dye sublimation printing, the ink is turned into a gas using heat and then transferred on to materials such as paper or fabric.

Director Mrs Wright said: “The Diamond Dispersions brand has gradually become synonymous with quality – we believe it’s been key to our increasing success.

“It’s taken a huge amount of hard work, time and investment to get to this stage but we believe we have developed the very best dye sublimation inks in the world. We’re working with even more OEMs and, after three years of building business in South America and the Far East, we’re experiencing particular growth from customers in Brazil and South Korea.

“Our pigments are also selling well and, again, its customers who are seeking a quality product that are specifying our pigment dispersions. But our biggest growth has undoubtedly come from dye sublimation and it’s this area of the business that we’ll continue to expand on in 2013.”

The business expects to have turned over around £1.2m in the year to the end of August 2012, though the accounts have not yet been audited. It turned over £750,000 in 2011, with £40,000 of pre-tax profits. The firm has nine members of staff and 85 per cent of sales are attributed to export.