The contract, for an undisclosed value, means that the company has been granted a licence to use a special security printing technique to print the pre-paid indicator.

Mail Solutions sales director Suzanne Swinbank said that the win came after a tendering process that began a year ago and was secured on the back of investment in new equipment.

The envelopes divisions core business is done on reel-fed machines like the W&D [Winkler & Dunnebier] 102, but the Airletters will be done on a sheetfed machine, said Swinbank.

The Royal Mail Airletters will be printed on the companys Smithe RA 800 envelope converting machine, which has a twin window patching system and five flexo print units. The division also has seven W&D flexo presses and two Halm litho over-printing machines.

Mail Solutions envelopes division manufacturers 1.3bn envelopes each year for a range of blue-chip clients including HSBC, Lloyds TSB, and is the sole supplier to npower.

The firms managing director Alan Griffiths said that he was delighted to win the Royal Mail contract that demonstrated the companys ability to manufacture precision envelopes and meet its clients security requirements.

The 23.7m-turnover company also has mailing and printing divisions and has a total workforce of 350.

Mail Solutions is part of the FTSE 250-listed South Staffordshire Group.

by John Davies