A Bradford bakery has taken over a £5 million cake business - and rescued 70 jobs.

Yorkshire Cottage Bakeries (YCB) Ltd's buyout of Manchester firm Mother Hubbard Cakes has given a lifeline to staff facing redundancy after the firm went into receivership.

The deal, struck for an undisclosed sum on December 21, is expected to give the Bradford company a new combined annual turnover of around £15m.

YCB is one of the largest independent suppliers of fairy cakes, while Mother Hubbard, which ran into trouble in September, specialises in the production of chocolate cakes and bars.

YCB director Mussadhik Hussain said he was looking forward to developing the new branch of his company.

"We look forward to working with customers and staff following an unsettling period for the business," he said, "whilst it was in administration.

"Our aim is to build on Mother Hubbard's success through offering an enhanced product range and delivering first class service and quality."

A former Buttershaw School pupil and now head of mergers and acquisitions for TMG Corporate Finance in Manchester, Khalil Rehman, supervised the transaction.

He said: "We brought the deal to completion in less than a week, which was a very short and intensive time-frame.

"We were delighted to be involved and it was a great Christmas present for the 70 members of staff who had left the building on the Friday afternoon not knowing whether they would still have a job after Christmas."

Based in City Road, Lister Hills, YCB started trading ten years ago and employs 150 people.