The paper group is set to make 65 staff redundant across the two businesses' back office departments of finance, human resources, IT, purchasing and marketing.

Joint managing director Steve King said: "In today's tough market conditions, every business must cut costs. Our two Paperlinx companies were determined that, as well as reducing overheads, they would together create more effective and efficient back office operations."

He added that reducing staff numbers was a responsible way to safeguard the businesses and position it for future growth.
"The changes have been done sensitively, without compromising each company's distinct face to market," he said.

Customer-facing sales operations have also been re-structured to "strengthen the individual value proposition of the two distinct brands, while enhancing overall operating efficiency".

There are now five stand-alone trading operations: Precision Publishing, Reel Paper, Retail Paper, Savory Paper and WebCo, which will support the two merchants.

At PaperCo, eight new regional sales divisions have been established for Scotland, Northern Ireland and the main regions of England.