West Midlands based Enzone Plastics, which also supplies the automotive and aeronautical sectors, signed the deal with Styleguard as part of its expansion plans.

Under the acquisition, Styleguard will relocate to Enzone’s factory in Bilston and operate as a separate limited company.

Owner and director of Enzone Plastics, Mark Richards, said the deal provided a “real opportunity” to expand the business and develop the firm’s position as a “leading manufacturer of mouldings and vacuum formings.”

Richards told PRW.com: “We’ve doubled the size of our vacuum forming operation overnight and we’re using the property that we’re in far more efficiently by running a larger organisation.”

He added: “The reality is we’ve added £1.5m on turnover without adding any further rent or rates.”

Other benefits include shared workforce expertise and increased flexibility due to more machines – there are now eight vacuum forming machines compared to three previously.

In addition, there are now five routing machines and a six axis robot compared to just two routing machines before.

According to Richards, the increased scale means there is more flexibility to get “things out the door”. He added: “Styleguard didn’t work nights but we work a small night shift.”

Key members of Styleguard staff, including owner Ron Cotton, will move across to the West Midlands site on a minimum two year contract.

The acquisition was made possible in part by GE Commercial Finance’s Business Finance unit, which structured a £300,000 deal.

GE’s finance director, Guy Walsh, said: “Enzone Plastics is a well established business and the complementary products and processes provided by Styleguard make this a very strong acquisition.

“We look forward to working with the business in the ongoing development of the company.”