AN aerospace firm saved from collapse just four years ago has been sold out in a multi-million pound deal.

And bosses at Colne-based Cleveland Guest, which won a Lancashire Evening Telegraph business award after escaping closure, expect the move to lead to a major expansion and new jobs.

The company has been bought by engineering group L Gardner in a deal worth £2.4 million, made up of shares and cash.

The deal could also see Gardner paying a further £900,000 depending on profits over the coming year.

Today, Stuart Grant, who, together with fellow businessman Steve Hollis, led the buy-out of Cleveland Guest from its parent company four years ago, said the deal was good news for East Lancashire.

"We were looking to expand the company as major customers like British Aerospace move to having fewer and larger suppliers," explained Stuart.

"The acquisition by Garnder will enable us to do that much quicker than we could have done before."

Cleveland Guest, which employs 135, supplies precision machined components to major aerospace firms. It will now become part of a new aerospace division of Gardner. "The acquisition reinforces the group's activities in the supply of high precision components to the aerospace industry, a market showing significant growth," said Gardner group chief executive Roger Newton.

Following the deal, Stuart Grant will become managing director of Ilkeston Aerospace, also owned by Gardner, with Steve Hollis remaining as MD of Cleveland Guest. Both have been appointed to the board of the aerospace division of Gardner.

In 1994 the future of the Colne-based firm looked bleak. Its parent company was in receivership and it looked like Cleveland Guest would close.

But businessmen Steve Hollis and Stuart Grant stepped in with a buy-out, backed by Lancashire Enterprises, and have since turned the company round.

In 1995, the firm won the Company of the Year title in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph East Lancashire business awards.

The firm last year opened a new factory on the Nelson Lomeshaye Industrial Estate to make components for the Brazilian 50-seater regional jet, the Embraer RJ145.

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