Snap Printing, which is chaired by Michael Kearney, the manager of the Irish rugby team, has acquired digital marketing agency The DG Group.

The move is part of Snap Printing’s repositioning of its 21 franchises as a web design business as well as a printer, Mr Kearney said.

The DG Group will add six new employees to Snap and treble the number of websites it manages to 450. "This is part of our strategy to transform the business by offering more digital production and marketing services. We hope to manage 1,000 websites in the next year."

Market contracted

Mr Kearney said contraction in companies’ print spending had reduced its franchisees from 24 stores to 21. “There has been a very high rate of attrition in the print business since 2008. The traditional market has contracted by 50 per cent and we feel it is an achievement to have held on to 90 per cent of our outlets.”

Snap Printing had a turnover of €15 million in the last year compared to €25 million at the height of the boom in 2007, Mr Kearney said. “We’ve managed through the recession reasonably well. The people who were in most difficulty were franchisees who invested in their own buildings. We’ve had to reinvent ourselves by offering the SME sector more services.”

Franco De Bonis, The DG Group's owner, will become Snap's director of digital marketing.

Shareholders in Snap include Mr Kearney and his business partner Ed Murphy and two former Smurfit Group executives, David Moffitt and Peter Cosgrove.

Mr Kearney and Mr Murphy also own Home Instead Senior Care, which looks after 2,500 elderly people in their homes. It has 19 offices countrywide. Mr Kearney also has the Irish franchise for CeX, the second-hand technology and entertainment sale and exchange group.

*This article was amended on December 18th, 2013, to correct an error