A BLACKBURN company is bracing itself for further expansion after enjoying record growth over the past six months.

Medistox Limited, which is one of the leading distributors of orthopaedic and sports medical products and employs more than 20 people at its base at the Greenbank Business Park, is looking forward to an exciting future after becoming part of Innovative Medical Products Holdings last year.

Until the recent buy-out, funded by the company's bankers, Lloyds TSB Commercial, Medistox was run as a family, customer-focused business by husband and wife team Colin and Vivian Leach.

Since then, the company has achieved substantial growth, with sales 25 per cent ahead of last year's figures. Over the last three months alone, an extra nine staff have been employed and further jobs will come later in the year.

General manager John Meadows explained: " It is a very exciting time at Medistox - it is all go. Lloyds TSB do not have equity in the company, but they are cash backers and certainly their attitude has significantly helped expansion plans. "We are expanding at a phenomenal rate and no small or medium-sized business could commit to that level of funding without substantial help.

"By the end of the year, we will have six new sales representatives on board and the bank is helping to facilitate that."

The company, which supplies neck braces and other orthopaedic and sports medical products to NHS trusts across the UK, is also looking to expand into the Middle East, building on its existing international contacts in Indonesia, Yugoslavia, Malta and Germany.