In its interim statement, Communisis revealed that it has been appointed "preferred vendor for direct mail to HBOS" by Williams Lea, who signed a £150m print management contract with the bank earlier this year.

Furthermore, the deal will see Communisis take on additional new work for HBOS in areas where it has "specific expertise, such as security printing".

Steve Vaughan, chief executive of Communisis, said: "We approached them because we do all the direct mail work for HBOS anyway and all the cheque books, so we were the incumbent.

"We've given them price benefits so that they can achieve their savings target and the quid pro quo for us is we get more (direct mail) volume from them as well as the cheques business. They had something to give us and we had something to give them so it all makes lots of sense."

The sudden rapprochement represents a remarkable turnaround for two of the UK's biggest Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies, which have historically had a more acrimonious relationship.

"We've reached an interesting accommodation with a company who, in the past, we haven't exchanged very many words with," explained Vaughan.

"Although I think that was more a feature of the previous Communisis management team and history of the two companies."

Asked if the new détente represented an end to the Cold War between the two companies, Vaughan said: "We're not dealing with nuclear disarmament so it's not quite so serious, but it does feel like a change in the landscape a bit. That's certainly how we're regarding it."

However, he added that while he would not be surprised if the two companies ended up working together in the future, the HBOS arrangement should not be "mistaken for an intent to bid together on everything".

"We will [continue to] compete with them as well," he said.

Meanwhile, Communisis also revealed that it is on track to meet the market's profit expectations for the year, which would mean year-on-year profit growth in the high 30s and nearing 40%.

The company said that whilst it was experiencing a downturn in direct mail volumes, this was being made up for by "over performance" in other areas of the business.

Vaughan said: "Because we've got two or three different aspects of the business, shortfalls in one are being made up for by over performance in others.

"We're having a good second half in our technology and services business, with IT products related to print and associated consultancy doing well. On the transactional side, we're doing more statements, people are opening more bank accounts, so that helps us."