(Luton, UK) February 20, 2006 -- InfoTrends, the leading worldwide research and consulting firm for the digital imaging and document solutions market, has just released a new series of country forecasts on the Italian, German, and United Kingdom Print On Demand markets. The forecasts indicate that each country experienced growth in 2004 after many years of decline. After 3 years of declining revenues, the U.K. printing industry managed to turn itself around with digital technology placements experiencing a 9% increase over 2003. This growth was noticeably higher than the Western European average of 4%. High-speed devices also experienced a particularly compelling gain of 17%, which took the U.K.’s share of all Western European placements to a new high of over 23%, underlining its position as the largest market for high-speed black & white devices in Europe. The printing industry in Italy suffered a severe decline in the years after 2000, but swung back into growth mode in 2004. Total Print On Demand (POD) placements grew 3% in 2004, and reached 4,993 units. High-speed black & white equipment noticed only a small decline of -2%. Colour production devices in Italy had a good year, with installations jumping from 981 units in 2003 to 1,853 units in 2004, representing a year-over-year increase of 89%. The increase even surpassed the Western European average of 66%. Germany used to have the largest printing industry in Europe. Since 2001, however, print revenues had been declining on the back of a struggling economy and falling advertising expenditures. 2004 was the first year to see some turnaround, with the printing industry revenue growing by 0.7%. First signs show that investments are up in 2005, and digital print should profit from that trend. Print On Demand placements in Germany are expected to increase from 9,002 installations in 2004 to 13,617 in 2009, with a CAGR of 9%. Main drivers are colour devices, which are expected to increase from 6,442 units to 10,663 units in 2009, representing a CAGR of 11%. InfoTrends new Print On Demand country forecasts provide an analysis of the Italian, German, and United Kingdom digital production printing market for each region. Each forecast contains growth prospects for equipment, consumables, services, and the value of pages produced by digital printing processes in Print On Demand and data centre environments from 2004 through 2009.The documents also analyse major demand drivers for each market, including advertising expenditures, publishing, and the labour market.