The Sky contract will be printed by TPF Direct, the firm's dedicated direct marketing and transactional mail division. The division was set up after the firm began handling Sky's transactional mail on an "informal basis" last year.

"They [TPF] have done a superb job over the past year which made it an easy decision to formalise the deal," said BSkyB procurement manager Kevin Trever.

TPF group marketing and communication director Tony Wood said the deal includes all of Sky's personalisation material, which involves millions of bills, statements, letters, envelopes and inserts.

The new contract is in addition to TPF's 10m a year print management deal with BSkyB.

Chief executive Steve Brundle said that with more companies using TPF for direct and transactional mail, the future prospects for growth were "terrific".

Meanwhile, the Northampton-based print management and facilities group

has also bought a 2,800sqm premises in Brentford, which will create 120 jobs and involve a 3m spend on pre-press and digital kit at the site.

The Brentford site will house 25-30 employees exclusively for the Sky account and involve the creation of a digital print and repro division and a creative services team, which between them will employ around 90.

The decision to acquire a London base was made to bring TPF in closer proximity to its London-based clients, including Sky.
TPF was formed in 1991, and its clients include Virgin Group, Ladbrokes and the Tussauds Group.