THE future of a Lancaster engineering firm looks bright following a million pound boost from two Dundee businessmen.

North West Engineering on Willow Lane has been bought for £1 million by enterprising engineering experts, Stewart Urquhart and Marcus Wood.

The company, which employs 40 people, makes components for the aerospace, military and oil industries.

The sale provides North West Engineering with the ability to invest in the latest technology to become one of the UK's leading precision engineering firms. One of the new managing directors, Stewart Urquhart, said: "We were interested in North West Engineering because it had a reputation for high quality precision engineering. It was profitable but I could see that it could be developed into a really successful, hi tech business. It has taken us 12 months to buy the company and we are now keen to start making changes and improvements."

Operations manager, John Friel, who has worked for the company for 15 years, said: "Stewart and Marcus are very ambitious and want the company to grow. Everyone is very excited about the changes and is looking forward to the future."

The new owners met while working for the Ferranti Group in Dundee.

Marcus said: "We have worked for large companies and seen how not to do things. We wanted our own company, something to be proud of and which we could expand. The people here are highly skilled and I think we make a good strong team."

The new owners plan to invest heavily in IT as well as new production machinery and increasing the skills of the current work force.