Family-run Edward McNeil has been trading since 1919 and turned over around £3.6m in the year to 31 December 2015. It is selling just its packaging operations, which employ 12 staff, no buildings or plant are included.

The business (and staff, if they wish) will be transferred to Macfarlane’s Linwood, Glasgow site, under regional director for the north of England and Scotland David Machin.

Macfarlane Group chief executive Peter Atkinson said: “We very much hope they all come over and join our business. Retaining our employees is a key part of the Macfarlane way of doing things.

“It’s always been about quality businesses for us. A quality business means quality staff and quality customers and Ed McNeil fits the bill from that point of view."

Macfarlane will pay up to £1.8m for the business from existing borrowing facilities, with a deferred consideration of £150,000 payable over the next year, based on certain working capital targets.

The two companies have been in negotiations for the deal, announced this morning, for two years.

“The current owners are leaving the business to do other things. We had an ongoing conversation with them and then it was a case of timing," Atkinson said.

"We’re buying successful local businesses. They want to make sure that the business is sold to someone they trust and that will look after the staff.”

Atkinson said another advantage of the purchase was that Edward McNeil's product line complemented MacFarlane's.

“This is an important step for us in Scotland; we’ll continue to look for opportunities,” he said. "We’ll hopefully do one more this year, it is well developed. We’ve got a pipeline of other things we’re looking at.

“We’ve got our plan going forward, of around about two to three acquisitions per annum.

"You have to start planning well in advance to ensure that pipeline ready for deliverability on an annual basis.”

Edward McNeil managing director Samuel Kingsley said: “The acquisition will create opportunities to develop the business in the coming years.”