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The move comes after Neil said the traditional sale-or-return method was not working, according to reports.

Starting from autumn, the newspaper will be distributed in what are described as "upmarket parts of London", and 100,000 copies will be given away with Scotland on Sunday, which is owned by the Barclay brothers, who also own The Business.

Neil says this will give the newspaper an audited circulation of 400,000 -- something it could not achieve even if it embarked on a multi-million pound television advertising campaign.

According to Neil, publisher and editor in chief of The Business: "The agreement with Associated's Mail on Sunday title enables us to build the circulation of The Business by getting the newspaper into the hands of the right audience. To build our sales to 400,000 by traditional methods would have cost us tens of millions of pounds. This is much cheaper and much more beneficial to advertisers."

Earlier newspaper reports suggested that Neil was negotiating a similar

arrangement with Richard Desmond's Express Group, but on Monday, July 28, Neil decided to sign up with the Mail on Sunday instead of Desmond.

Against the odds, The Business has survived in the cut-throat Sunday newspaper market, after drastic changes. Once known as Sunday Business, the newspaper has cut jobs, done a deal with the Press Association for news, halved its cover price and given away bulk copies free.

Readership is growing, but the deal with Associated will give the newspaper a far wider exposure than its current distribution can.

The Guardian reports that the deal came about after discussions with Express Newspapers to include The Business with the Sunday Express and Monday's edition of the Daily Express in London and the South East.

The Mail on Sunday had an ABC of around 2.1m for June and The Business had an ABC of 58,139.

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