CHESHIRE agriculture group NWF yesterday acquired North West animal food manufacturer Nutrition Express for £480,000.

NWF Agriculture, an NWF subsidiary based in Wardle, Nantwich, has bought Nutrition Express which imports raw materials for animal feeds such as fats, minerals and milk powders.

Nutrition Express, which has a turnover of £1.8m, was founded in Salford Quays in 2001, and went up for sale when co-founder John Dent retired.

His partner Simon Harper will join NWF to continue trading under the firm's former brand name. NWF had been a customer of Nutrition Express for several years.

NWF chief executive, Graham Scott, said: "Nutrition Express has its own distribution system which will continue to operate under Simon Harper.

"This will add more profit to our business but will also lead us to more customers and farms that we haven't worked with before."

The news comes less than a week after a subsidiary of NWF acquired a Norfolk-based fuels business for £650,000.