AN ASHFORD-BASED marketing company completed a record year for acquisitions in 2003 by snapping up an electronic publishing enterprise.

Orbital Marketing Services Group bought a majority shareholding in Peterborough-based Access e-Media. It provides a range of sophisticated electronic publishing services for clients in the travel and publishing sectors. These include electronic content management, e-brochure distribution services and website content self-management software.

Orbital's first purchase of the year was Hampshire-based PMD Healthcare Marketing Services, a company providing direct mailing services to Britain's pharmaceutical sector.

At the same time, Orbital bought Shelwing, a long-established specialist promotional mailing service for book publishers, and relaunched it as BookFile.

The group also pushed into Europe by joining forces with partners in Germany, France and Italy to establish CRM-Link, a new concept in delivering quality marketing support services on a pan-European basis.

Orbital invested £300,000 in expanding its nationwide tourism literature display and distribution service Take One Media. Some of that money was spent on acquiring a West Country-based regional partner.

In the autumn, Orbital bought MacDonald Mailing, based in Sittingbourne, a leading supplier of specialist polythene wrapping services to the publishing and print industries, including Sky Television, Estee Lauder, AA Magazine, and the Salvation Army.

The acquisitions have pushed up Orbital's annual sales to £30 million, and boosted staff numbers to around 600.

Group managing director Paul Markland said: 'During 2003 we've followed a carefully-planned policy of acquiring niche providers of marketing and distribution services to key sectors of business -- healthcare, book publishing, large volume mailing services, electronic publishing and information distribution.

"The challenge now is to integrate these services so that we can continue to meet and exceed our clients' requirements, now and in the future.'”