A Bradford firm has signed a merger deal to create a company with a £20 million turnover.

Jessgrove Ltd, which supplies lining materials for womenswear, has amalgamated with UK Linings Ltd, a company which supplies to designer labels in the UK menswear market.

The two textiles firms will now use their combined strengths to exploit central and eastern European markets using a new central European distribution centre in the Czech Republic.

The firms have already committed £650,000 to the Czech centre.

Jessgrove, the larger of the two firms, has an annual turnover of £14 million.

UK Linings has an annual turnover of £6 million.

The new business will operate under the established Jessgrove title at its headquarters in Bradford. The operation, which will employ 60 staff, has other centres in Leeds, London and the Czech Republic. Lee Craven, logistics director for Jessgrove, said: "The two companies fit together neatly and will be able to exploit real opportunities in both the menswear and womenswear sector.

"The combined turnover of the group is expected to be £20 million, and our own predictions, based on current sales, suggest this will increase substantially over the next two years.

"The UK market is very active. We have recently taken a further five year lease on our London premises in order to offer our London based clients a complete stock and sampling service, and our Bradford operation will benefit too from the increased northern client base the merger brings.

"The deal also gives us the strength to exploit new markets in central and eastern Europe and the new Czech distribution centre will fulfil a growing order book from established clothing manufacturers in this part of the world, as well as enabling us to offer an eastern European logistics service to our UK clients."