ROYAL carpet maker Victoria has purchased underlay manufacturer Ezi Floor in a deal worth up to £13m.

Ezi Floor operates from a facility near Bradford and is a manufacturer and distributor of a range of underlay and underlay accessories for both the residential and contract markets. It sells to wholesalers, retail groups, and independent stores throughout the UK.

Kidderminster-headquartered Victoria, which has paid an initial £6.5m and a deferred consideration of £6.5m dependent on certain financial targets being met over the next four years, said Ezi Floor has been acquired from a reorganised group of companies and therefore no statutory financial information for the business is available.

Victoria chairman Geoff Wilding said: "We believe underlay to be a real opportunity and Victoria is already actively looking at other opportunities in the underlay sector. Twelve months ago Victoria acquired underlay manufacturer Interfloor. Since then, cross-selling opportunities – almost all consumer carpet purchases require underlay – and purchasing improvements as a result of the group's scale have successfully and significantly improved the earnings of that business.

"The integration of our previous acquisitions has been completed, and Victoria is already benefiting from our strategy of achieving scale through acquisitions and we look forward to integrating Ezi Floor and developing the business as part of Victoria."

The enlarged Victoria group now has approximately 1,700 employees and operates from ten sites in the UK, and three in Australia.