Family firm completes buy-out

The businessman who founded the UK’s only manufacturer of steam cleaning machines has completed a buy-out of the company with funding from Lancashire County Council’s Rosebud Finance.

Bob, his daughter Natalie and son Gavin now plan to grow the company and take on a further 12 people over the next three years.

Matrix now manufactures a range of 18 machines for domestic, commercial and industrial applications. Its products are used in hospitals, schools, shopping centres, restaurants and office buildings and are also popular with contract cleaning companies. It also manufactures own-label steam cleaning machines for international cleaning equipment companies.

The Rosebud loan has allowed the Pownall family to acquire the shares held by two non-executive directors who invested in the early years and who now want to sell their stake in the business.

Rosebud is a finance package supporting Lancashire firms to grow and expand their business. It is managed by Enterprise Ventures on behalf of Lancashire County Developments Ltd (LCDL) - the county council's economic development company.

County Councillor Niki Penney, chair of LCDL, said: "We're pleased that Rosebud is supporting this Lancashire-based family-run manufacturer. This will help the team at Matrix to keep existing jobs, while bringing new jobs to the county. "Advanced manufacturing is one of the key sectors which we're targeting due to its high growth potential. Rosebud aims to create an increasing number of better paid jobs and we are looking to support ambitious growing businesses."