MACFARLANE Group has returned to the acquisition trail with a deal to buy a packaging company in the north-west of England.
The Glasgow business has acquired Manchester-based A&G Holdings, owner of Gottlieb Packaging Materials, for a maximum cash consideration of £3.55 million. The deal includes an earn-out of up to £0.8m, based on agreed profit growth targets over two years.
Gottlieb’s team of 15 employees, including two directors, will remain with the business further to the deal.
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Macfarlane, which has financed the deal through its existing £30m bank facility, said the purchase progresses its strategy of building its protective packaging business through organic and acquisitive growth.
Gottlieb is described as a well-established business which supplies protective packaging products to customers across a wide range of sectors from its warehouse facilities in Manchester. It made pre-tax profits of £0.7m on sales of £4.5m in the year ended December 31.
Macfarlane highlighted opportunities for customers of Gottlieb to access Macfarlane’s extensive range of protective packaging products and services.
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Peter Atkinson, chief executive of Macfarlane, said: “Gottlieb is a well-run, successful protective packaging distributor with an experienced management team.
"The acquisition of Gottlieb complements the recent opening of our new distribution facility in Heywood and further strengthens our ability to serve customers in the North-West of England. We look forward to working with the team at Gottlieb to support its continued growth.”
The acquisition of Gottlieb comes shortly after Macfarlane clinched a deal to buy Cambridgeshire-based AE Sutton, a specialist protective manufacturing business founded in 1962, in a deal worth up to £9m in March.
Macfarlane reported a seven per cent rise in pre-tax profits to £19.9m for 2022, which came as revenue from continuing operations climbed by 10% to £290.4m, despite a slowdown in demand from the e-commerce sector.
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