The Glasgow-headquartered packaging giant said the earnings enhancing acquisition, which was completed on Friday (28 April), further progresses the group’s strategy of building its protective packaging business through a combination of organic and acquisitive growth.

It follows Macfarlane’s March acquisition of Chatteris, Cambridgeshire-based specialist protective packaging manufacturing business Suttons Performance Packaging.

Gottlieb supplies protective packaging products to customers across a wide range of sectors, from its warehouse facilities in the Greater Manchester area.

It employs 15 staff, including two directors, all of whom will remain with the business following the acquisition. There are no plans to rebrand the company.

Macfarlane said its wholly-owned subsidiary Macfarlane Group UK Ltd acquired 100% of Gottlieb for a maximum cash consideration of £3.55m, including an earn-out of up to £800,000 based on agreed profit growth targets over two years.

A further adjustment is due for net assets in excess of £300,000 with the expected net assets on completion being £1m, including £800,000 of net cash.

The consideration is being financed entirely from Macfarlane’s existing £30m bank facility.

For the year ended 31 December 2022, Gottlieb generated sales of £4.5m, with EBITDA and pre-tax profit of £700,000.

In Macfarlane’s preliminary results posted in late February for the year ended 31 December 2022, it reported turnover of £290.4m, up from the £264.5m it achieved in its 2021 results, and pre-tax profit of £19.9m, up from the £18.7m figure it recorded for 2021.

Macfarlane chief executive Peter Atkinson 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.”

Macfarlane Group now employs over 1,000 people at 37 sites, predominantly in the UK, but also in Ireland, Germany, and the Netherlands. It supplies more than 20,000 customers, mainly in the UK and Europe.

The company’s share price was up by 1.4% at the time of writing just after midday today (2 May) to 108.5p (52-week high: 126.50p, low: 85.20p).