GREEN support services company Eaga yesterday announced it had spent about £15m on two acquisitions to help meet growth targets.

The Newcastle firm said it had bought insulation companies George Howe Limited, of Durham, and Horrocks Group, to reinforce its position as the UK's leading provider of residential energy efficiency solutions.

The company also said it expected the purchases to have an "immediate" positive effect on its revenues.

Eaga, which was recently listed on the FTSE 250, also acquired central heating company AF Ring (AFR) for about £3m two months ago.

The deals take spending on acquisitions since its flotation on the Stock Exchange in June to £28.8m. Eaga's UK workforce has increased to more than 4,000.

The company aims to treble its UK workforce to 10,000 and more than double turnover to £1bn within three years. George Howe, which employs about 120 people at Renny's Lane Industrial Estate, provides internal and external wall insulation to customers including Yuill Homes, George Wimpey and Shepherd Construction.

Liverpool-based Horrocks, which also has a workforce of about 120, installs and supplies external wall insulation products to the social housing and housing construction markets.

The acquisition of AFR, in September, added 65 more people to its national workforce.

John Clough, chief executive of Eaga, said: "These are successful and well-run businesses.

They will broaden Eaga's service offering in key growth areas and bring greater capacity and scale to our operations.

"This announcement is a clear demonstration that we are delivering on our buy and build strategy."