Antalis won the business following an online reverse auction against 18 other bidders, and the main aim of the agreement is to reduce cost and drive efficiencies.

Bruce Munro, Antalis national sales director, said: "We have been active in the packaging market for many years and sell significant levels of packaging consumables across all divisions.

"Antalis has invested in the packaging business in mainland Europe to enhance the paper merchant service and offer customers an even wider product range than just paper and envelopes."

Antalis packaging national business manager Marc Jacobs (pictured) was appointed at the beginning of the year to increase the focus on sales development.

He said the paper merchant has also won three other customers that will be announced in the coming weeks.

Packaging is one of five market divisions of the Antalis Group and the others are office, print, visual communication and promotional products.