THE new owners of labels manufacturer Smith & McLaurin expect to create 20 jobs over the next three years.

The business, which employs 90 at Kilbarchan in Renfrewshire, has been bought by its management in a deal supported by a £5.75 million finance package from Bank of Scotland.

The deal has its roots in 2002 when Ian McKay, an accountant and turnaround specialist, bought Smith & McLaurin out of administration and set about rebuilding the business.

Although Mr Mackay died from cancer four years ago a family trust in his name still owned the bulk of the business.

A management buy-out, believed to be worth close to seven figures, has resulted in the shareholding of the family trust being sold.

Now chairman Allan McLaughlin, a friend and business partner of Mr Mackay, is the single largest shareholder having increased his stake to around 41%.

Chief executive Ron Easton, who came into the business a year ago, is also a significant shareholder in the new structure.

The bulk of the finance package is to help grow revenue at Smith & McLaurin by £10m to £35m by targeting new customers.

Mr McLaughlin said: "We want to grow, especially in export markets, so we needed money to fund that.

"We are already in France, Germany, Belgium and Scandinavia but we are really just scratching the surface.

"We sell to label printing companies and there are some major ones across Europe that we are not in yet."

The business makes label stock for industries including food, whisky and pharmaceuticals.