The five-year deal will see the Newcastle-based print management firm supply 5m of brochures and letterheads annually.

We handle the offering for Aegon and its running like a Swiss watch, said Dataforms chief executive Brad Holbrook.

His firm, boasting annual sales of 35m, will use some of Aegons printers based in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

He said Dataform could choose printers across Europe through its vendor-rating service and Aegon could track jobs online.

Were different from other print managers as all of our business is web-based and were making a profit.

Iain Clark, head of services for Aegon, said: Paper is our business in this paperless society and this deal enables us to sharpen our pencil a bit.