Chris Gateley, managing director of logistics firm Multipart, said they were looking to expand the range of products they handled at their 268,000 sq ft distribution warehouse at Buckshaw Village.

He wants to scale down their reliance on the automotive industry, which presently makes up around 70 per cent of the firm's £70m annual sales, and explore other markets.

The managing director and fellow director Paul Roberts completed a management buy-out from South African-based Imperial Holdings, which bought the company from Lex Services two years ago.

Mr Gateley said: "Our plans are to grow the business both organically and through acquisition and while I do not see us going beyond £70m sales, I would like to see us moving into a mix of different
markets.

"We are making quite a mark in utilities having agreed two contracts with Anglian Water Services to help with its programme to replace quarter-of-a-million water meters in the east of England and that is an area we are looking to do more work in. We need to fill the warehouse we have here in Lancashire and we need to do that by looking at other sectors."

He said the company, which employs 250 people on four sites across the UK and France, had previously had opportunities for acquisitions across the UK which it had not been able to take because of "difficulties" being suffered by its parent company.

Multipart specialises in supplying spare parts and components to clients including LDV, Isuzu, Dennis Eagle, TVR and the Ministry of Defence and employs 180 people at its HQ in Lancashire.

It was established in 1993 when it bought the afterparts division of Leyland DAF and was bought-out by Chorley-based Lex in 2006.

The deal was backed by Belgian private equity firm KBC Business Capital and advised by Gary Houghton and James Wild, of Baker Tilly, with Brabners Chaffe Street's Tony Harper and Claire Swarbrick providing legal support.