A TECHNOLOGY firm has bought a fellow market operator in a £2.8m deal to support its future growth.

Stadium Group has taken on the business and assets of PowerPax UK.

Bosses say the move for PowerPax, known for serving the industrial power supply market, will strengthen Hartlepool-based Stadium’s power division by adding complementary products and customers.

Stadium, originally founded as a motorcycle helmet company, is now responsible for designing and making vehicle control panels, wireless devices and electronic displays, with its catalogue including vehicle fleet tracking and black box systems for insurers to assess drivers’ safety.

Formed in 2000, PowerPax, based in Berkshire, makes and distributes a wide range of power supplies, battery chargers and LED products, and is recognised across the low to medium power space.

According to its latest financial results, for the year ended August 31 2016, PowerPax recorded sales of £3.3m and profit before interest and tax of £400,000.

Charlie Peppiatt, chief executive at Stadium Group, which has spent about £2m on its Hartlepool plant in the last two years, said he was excited by PowerPax’s potential.

He said: “It is an excellent fit for our power division and fully aligned with our growth plans for design-led technology products.

“We expect to see the full financial benefits of this acquisition from 2018 onwards.”

The deal follows on from a previously announced £750,000 deal for Cable Power Limited, which was bought to add value to Stadium’s power division and complements an agreement for power supply unit and transformer maker Stontronics.

Speaking to The Northern Echo earlier this year, Mr Peppiatt said Stadium was looking to “get some boots on the ground” in North America to provide a gateway to the “largest market on the planet” for the type of apparatus it supplies.

The business has benefited from a conversion from a solely electronic manufacturing services firm to a design-led company, with its higher-margin technology products division contributing 60 per cent of group sales.

The company has also made its Hartlepool base a European manufacturing centre of excellence.