New ImpraGas owner invests to save jobs at Peterborough business

Entrepreneur Andy Scott, of REL Capital, said he has put in about £200,000 to support the business and its 70 staff since buying the company last month.

Mr Scott bought the assets and the ImpraGas brand from BBC The Apprentice winner Joseph Valente for an undisclosed sum on January 10.

Since then the award-winning business, which Mr Valente created in 2012 and built up to a £10 million turnover, has been transferred from its former home at Unit 8 Enterprise Way, Falcon Way, Yaxley, to premises in Southgate Way, Orton Southgate.

Mr Scott said: "We have preserved the business.

"We are starting again with a lot of challenges.

We have moved the business to new offices at Orton Southgate.

"I have put in about £200,000 to support ImpraGas."

Turnaround specialist Mr Scott, who recently bought Bison Transport and Barnack Storage and Logistics, both in Peterborough, said: "ImpraGas is a good business.

"The fundamentals of the company are sound and we have inherited a good team.

"We have taken it on and have saved jobs and we hope to make a go of it.

"The first three months of a turn around are quite scary because you're pumping money in and you have to watch the numbers like a hawk."

Mr Valente,30, who won the BBC reality show in 2015, said: "The asset sale was structured so staff kept their jobs with staff, brand and ongoing orders going to new owner.

"My priority during the sale was to protect staff jobs."