A six figure funding package from the Royal Bank of Scotland has helped to support the acquisition of Bryn Precision (formerly SZ Gears) by Caerphilly firm JR Gilbert Engineering.

Founded in 1983, JR Gilbert Engineering offer precision and general engineering to a variety of industries across the UK and Ireland.

Since a management buy in in 2012 directors Nick Robbins and Colin Beavis have expanded the business significantly from employing three staff to 33.

Turnover has risen from £240,000 to £1.5m in the last five years.

The acquisition of Bryn Precision has secured six jobs and resulted in the recruitment of two new members of staff. Operating from an impressive 10,000 sq ft site on Oakdale Business Park in Blackwood, Bryn Precision not only expands the JR Gilbert Engineering business but strengthens its offering with the addition of a niche gear cutting facility.

JR Gilbert Engineering now has the ability to cut a wide range of gears, sprockets, splines, rack and pinion sets and has also enhanced their conventional and CNC machining capacity significantly.

Nick Robbins, director at JR Gilbert Engineering said: “We have significantly grown the business in the last five years and I am delighted to complete the acquisition of what was more widely known as SZ Gears.

"As a result we can now operate from two sites offering specialist CNC and general machining facilities.

"We have a very broad customer base including many blue-chip companies. The niche elements of our business such as large capacity surface grinding and now the gear cutting element of the former Bryn Precision attract a very wide audience. This enables us to provide engineering services to many other engineering companies throughout the UK and Ireland.

“The support from Jon Field at the Royal Bank of Scotland has been invaluable, without it we would not have been able to acquire the business. It helped greatly that Jon and the team understood our business.”

Jon Field, relationship director at the Royal Bank of Scotland, said: “JR Gilbert Engineering is a great local success story for South Wales and I am delighted to assist them with the completion of the acquisition. This is a very exciting time for the business as they reap the benefits of significant growth, having strengthened their work force and expanded geographically with the addition of the new site at Oakdale. This signals a great platform for future growth for the business and the retention of engineering capabilities in the Valleys.”