Halcyon is among a select group of companies to have been awarded preferred supplier status to ScottishPower Energy Retail for direct mail and commercial print production.

The three-year agreement could be worth between 3m and 4m in total to the group of suppliers, which also includes Waddies and John Blackburn.

Halcyon sales director Stuart Scott said: "So far weve produced mainly point-of-sale material for their various shops and branches as well as direct mail packs. The tendering process was done in concert with our marketing team to provide a basket of prices for their various jobs."

Halcyon, which is part of the Adare Group, has an annual turnover in excess of 30m and employs 320 people at its two sites at Huddersfield and Elland. Scott said that the depth of resources coupled with the experience available to Halcyon impressed ScottishPower.

"They made decisions on the basis on getting a mixture of capabilities. For example, we have web coupled with direct mail. The idea is that theyll call on two or three to turn around a job," said Scott.

A spokeswoman for ScottishPower said that the company invited tenders for supplier status some 10 months ago and that all firms had been evaluated thoroughly on price and quality.

She said: "We decided to rationalise suppliers quite recently and we had a huge response. This way we can build closer relationships with our suppliers. Its a question of getting the balance right, but we have a large enough pool to cope with demand and cover all our options."

However, she added that specialist print companies would still be used on an ad hoc basis to cover certain requirements.

Story by John Davies