ABERDEEN-based optical business Duncan & Todd, fresh from its acquisition of the six-strong 20:20 Opticians chain in Edinburgh and Glasgow, is eyeing further expansion after securing an additional £3.5 million investment from the Business Growth Fund.

Frances Duncan, managing director of Duncan & Todd and a qualified dispensing optician, noted the 20:20 chain had been acquired from John Hendry, who founded the business in Edinburgh in the late 1980s and is retiring.

The price paid for 20:20, which has four outlets in Edinburgh and two in Glasgow, was not disclosed but it is likely to have been a multi-million-pound transaction.

The acquisition adds 49 people to Duncan & Todd's workforce, taking it to about 260. Ms Duncan said the enlarged business would have an annual turnover of about £15m.

Duncan & Todd has increased its number of branches from 23 to 30, through acquisitions, since securing £5.6m of investment from the Business Growth Fund in December 2013.

With the latest investment, and additional debt facilities from Royal Bank of Scotland, the optician aims to continue its expansion and make further acquisitions.

The Business Growth Fund, a UK Government initiative backed by the major banks, said it would remain a minority shareholder in Duncan & Todd following the latest investment.

Ms Duncan took control of the business in 2007 in a management buy-out from founders Stewart Todd and Norman Duncan, her ex-husband. She became managing director of the optical chain in 1996 and retains a majority stake in the business.

The Business Growth Fund said 20:20 provided a strong platform and brand name to expand further into the central belt.

Duncan & Todd also acquired Gunn & Galbraith, an independent optical store in Dunfermline, in May 2014. And, in December, it completed a £1m upgrade of its manufacturing facility in Aberdeen, doubling its capacity.

The manufacturing facility, which employs 32 of Duncan & Todd's workforce, serves the company's own retail stores and provides lenses to third-party opticians and laboratories. It also makes safety eyewear, for the likes of the oil and gas sector.

Duncan & Todd has a significant corporate client base, which includes banks.

Asked about the likely locations of further acquisitions, Ms Duncan replied: "We are just looking anywhere that fits into the profile, so still Aberdeenshire, Moray, Tayside, Perthshire, Stirling, just really anywhere that fits in."

And Ms Duncan declared there was room for both the major chains and the independents in the market.

Flagging Duncan & Todd's focus on "good eyecare, great products and service", she said the business had managed to hold its profitability over the last five or six years when times had been tough.

Ms Duncan added: "While there is a lot of independents, single units, going out of business as the multiples have taken a grip on the market, there is still plenty of independents. There is plenty of room in the market for both."