THE Cork Examiner group has signed a deal with News International to print two British titles.

The deal is worth more than £500,000 a year for the Cork company.

As reported in The Irish Times last month, Examiner Publications will print two sections of the Irish edition of the Sunday Times and will print the Times for daily circulation in Ireland.

Some 100,000 copies of the Sunday Times and 10,000 copies per day of the Times will be printed in Cork. Printing will begin in early summer.

Mr Alan Crosbie, chief executive of Examiner Publications, refused to say how much the contract was worth to the company, saying it was a complicated deal. However, it is understood that aside from the monetary attraction, the deal will help the Examiner to lower its own newsprint costs. This is because News International is a major buyer of newsprint and Examiner will buy its newsprint through News International.

The contract had been under negotiation for two to three months and News International had approached The Irish Times about the possibility of printing the papers on its machines in Dublin, but the newspaper was not interested. _

Mr Crosbie said the company was delighted to have concluded the deal and it was a great endorsement for the Examiner as the Times was "the most prestigious newspaper in the world".

Mr Crosbie said the contract would also have a very positive effect on the Examiner, in terms of its own printing quality.

The Cork Examiner changed its name to the Examiner earlier this week as part of a drive to win sales outside its traditional Munster base.

The group will print two sections of the Sunday Times the news and business/sports sections on Saturdays. On weekdays it will print copies of the Times for distribution here.