The boss of one of the UK's leading printing groups today moved to reassure some 175 staff in Bradford that their immediate futures were secure - despite the closure of another site with the loss of 210 jobs.

St Ives printing group, the listed company that supplies almost all the leading trade publishing houses in the UK, is to close its plant in Caerphilly, South Wales, due to difficult trading conditions.

But managing director Brian Edwards said there were no immediate plans to make similar cuts at the firm's plant in Battye Street, Laisterdyke, where about 175 staff work, primarily on direct mail printing operations. Mr Edwards said the Caerphilly factory specialised in publications such as monthly magazines and brochures which have taken a particular hit in the difficult trading conditions in the printing industry.

He said the direct mail sector of the industry was "still very competitive" but insisted: "There are certainly no plans at the moment to make cuts."

Mr Edwards added: "Clearly, I still believe there is a future for print. But I think that it will be in the shorter run, more specialist areas. Direct mail has all these characteristics."

The printing industry, once one of the mainstays of the West Yorkshire economy, has taken a battering in recent years with Baildon-based W E Berry the latest big casualty.

Mr Edwards agreed that conditions were tough and said the industry was still struggling from an over-capacity which had been created in reaction to the dotcom boom.

"In the 1990s, we had terrific volume increases in advertising, some of which was fuelled by the dotcom phenomenon and, when the bubble burst, levels of advertising undertaken by these firms dropped off dramatically," he said.

"Today, companies seem to be a lot more selective in what they spend their money on."

In its last financial year, the Caerphilly plant made losses before interest of nearly £1.8 million. The job losses announcement came as the company warned profits before goodwill and exceptionals for the full year were unlikely to be higher than last year. Shares fell nine per cent.

St Ives' magazine operation prints titles ranging from Vogue and Woman & Home to Investors Chronicle and House & Garden. Other titles printed by the company included Harry Potter, Hillary Clinton's autobiography and the book behind the Atkins Diet phenomenon.

The group employs more than 4,000 staff at sites including Bristol, Peterborough and Plymouth. St Ives took over the Bradford site with the purchase of the Hunters Armley Group in 1998.

In its last financial year, St Ives saw pre-tax profits fall to £14.9 million from £34.6 million previously.