The deal covers the printing, fulfilment and despatch of its letters, which currently totals around 4m mailings a year. Lowell Group recently opened a call centre with a workforce of 400 in Leeds. "Our print requirement has increased dramatically in a very short space of time," said Lowell sales and marketing director Joyce Newman.

"Since we've taken over the contract the number of forecasted mailings for this year has grown from 2m," said Resource sales and marketing director Phil Thompson.

He added that letters were printed on its Xerox DocuTech 6180. The company also has an HP Indigo 1000 and two five-colour Mitsubishi Diamond 1000 B2 presses. Thompson said that the company's current strategy was to work more closely with blue-chip clients.

"We have recently developed a bespoke online facility for clients, giving them an analysis of their job from placing orders through to despatch," added Thompson.

Resource Print Solutions has a 40-strong workforce and a turnover of 3.5m, up 15% on last year. Its other clients include Comet, NatWest and Leeds City Council.

Story by Philip Chadwick