BURNLEY cleaning products firm Brencliffe Limited has been sold off by parent company Yule Catto & Co for £2.6million.

Brencliffe, which specialises in valeting and cleaning products for the automotive market, has been bought by Oldham-based Robert Scott & Sons.

Brencliffe, which operates on the Rossendale Road Industrial Estate, had turnover of £7 million and net assets of £1.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2004, and was part of Yule Catto's performance chemicals division.

Robert Scott & Sons, independently owned since it was founded in 1925, specialise in a range of household cleaning products, including mops, cleaning brushes, sponges and scourers and has contracts with a number of multi-national companies.

Alistair Scott, sales director at Robert Scott & Sons, said: "Brencliffe was part of Yule Catto, a multi-national chemicals company and we believe we are a much more similar operation to Brencliffe than Yule Catto and they were of the same opinion.

"We are a key supplier of cleaning products with major contracts with multi-national companies, but did not have any hold on the automotive market.

"That is what Brencliffe specialise in so it is another string to our bow.

"At this stage we are looking at the strengths and weaknesses of both companies to see where this acquisition takes us, but I don't foresee for the time being any changes at Brencliffe. The purchase of Brencliffe gives us extra space, which we need, and certainly the main benefit for us is extra market share with a number of major customers.

"We are looking forward to working with Brencliffe. Everyone at the company thinks it is a good move for us and I'm sure Brencliffe would agree it is a good move for them."

Robert Scott and Sons operate in two mills in Saddleworth and one in Heywood.