A spokeswoman for Paperlinx said that the two organisations would continue to operate as independent companies within the group, with separate registrations and financial reporting.

Lane-Ley was formerly joint managing director of PaperCo and HSPG with Steve King.

King has now been appointed managing director of Paperlinx Solutions, which incorporates Paperlinx' support functions.

He will work with the three Paperlinx merchants, Howard Smith, PaperCo and Robert Horne, to promote a number of key services, such as the conversion facilities, digital solutions and graphic consumables under the Total Print Supplies brand.

In June 2009, Howard Smith and PaperCo announced they were to consolidate a number of back-office operations to increase efficiencies within the Paperlinx businesses.

In October 2009, Paperlinx cut 10% of the workforce at Howard Smith and PaperCo as part of its continued restructuring.
The company made 65 staff redundant across the two businesses' back office departments.

Customer-facing sales operations were also re-structured to "strengthen the individual value proposition of the two distinct brands".

Last month, Paperlinx completed its exit from paper manufacturing after it failed to find a buyer for its Burnie mill in Tsamania.