SCOTS packaging specialist Macfarlane Group has continued its acquisition spree by concluding its second deal of the year.
The Glasgow-based firm said its geographic coverage of the North-west of England will improve after acquiring Leyland Packaging Company for up to £3.25 million. It is the eleventh deal Macfarlane has sealed since kicking off its acquisition programme in 2014.
Macfarlane described Leyland as a “high-quality packaging business” focused on industrial customers located within a “close radius” of its 37,000 square foot base in Leyland, Lancashire.
READ MORE: Macfarlane in deal pledge as profits rise in tough market
All 12 Leyland employees will remain in the business further to the deal. Leyland made a pre-tax profit of £550,000 on sales of £4.06m in the year ended December 31, Macfarlane said.
The acquisition is Macfarlane’s second of 2019, following the £3.9m purchase of Ecopac at the start of May. The deals follow the 2018 acquisitions of Tyler Packaging and Harrisons Packaging, and maintain the Macfarlane average of two takeovers per year as the company continues to build its business through organic and acquisitive growth.
READ MORE: Monday Interview: Macfarlane ready to take on the world again at 70
Macfarlane has paid an initial £2.25m for family-owned Leyland. That comprises £2m in cash and the grant of 264,382 shares in the Glasgow company, valued at £250,000, to the selling family. The deal also includes an earn-out worth £1m to the sellers.
Macfarlane chief executive Peter Atkinson said Leyland “meets our acquisition criteria and will be earnings-enhancing in its first full year in the group.” He added: “I am confident that the business will be another good acquisition for Macfarlane improving our geographic coverage in the North-west and extending our customer reach.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here