GE Vernova is expanding its existing Stafford manufacturing sites to double HVDC valve manufacturing capacity and upgrade HVDC converter transformer production, and is hiring additional engineers and skilled staff.

Soft drinks maker Belvoir Farm invested £2 million in a new canning line at its on-farm factory in Leicestershire, equipped with a cartoning machine from T. Freemantle.

Cheshire firm Packaging One signed a contract worth about $2.5 million (£1.98 million) with a global phone and tech manufacturer to supply its MediaWrap protective cardboard packaging. The deal, signed in September 2024, led the firm to add 40 staff and take US warehouse capacity.

Tapflo UK, a process pump provider in Hampshire, announced the acquisition of TS Pumps, a UK company that supplies, services and repairs industrial pumps and systems. The deal expands Tapflo UK's application coverage and servicing.

Northern Corrugated Cases has completed installation of a GTS Boxstar Heavy Duty 3000HD boxmaker at its Middlewich factory, allowing triplewall stock to be produced locally instead of shipped from Halifax.

UK corrugated box maker Sheard Packaging has invested £13 million in a fully automated Asahi flatbed die cutting line, Dücker pre-feeders and palletiser, and a Göpfert 5-colour HBL HQPP die cutter at its Halifax site.

Packaging maker Coveris has completed a physical power purchase agreement with CE Rigmuir, sourcing wind power from a 13.5 MW project in East Kilbride, Scotland, to cover its 18 UK sites from 1 September 2024.

Fluid power supplier Flowtech has agreed a £350,000 deal to acquire the assets of pneumatics and fluid products provider Thorite, including equipment, vehicles, stock and locations, and has paid off Thorite's £1.7m debt.

Smurfit Westrock Saxon upgraded Woodforde's shelf-ready beer boxes to a waste-based moisture-resistant board after a year of collaboration, reported August 20, 2024.

Smurfit Westrock Saxon produced custom shelf-ready beer boxes for 8 x 500ml bottles for UK brewery Woodforde's, using waste-based moisture-resistant board.

Coppice Alupack acquired Telford-based flexible packaging maker Sirane and its assets from joint administrators in a secured sale, retaining the Emerald site and 22 remaining employees. Financial terms were undisclosed.

UK packaging maker Cepac has completed a phase of its £20m three-year investment plan, adding corrugating capacity and equipment for its Flutepac food packaging at its Darlington site.

Novelis is investing approximately $90 million to raise used beverage can recycling capacity at its Latchford plant in the UK by 85 kilotonnes per year, more than 100%. Commissioning is expected to begin in December 2026.

Edwin James Group announced the acquisition of the entire share capital of Pettits Ltd and its subsidiary Motivair Compressors Ltd for an undisclosed sum. Motivair manages about 9,000 compressed air assets for UK industrial, infrastructure, utilities and defence customers, and its 100 employees will be retained.

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council's planning committee approved Saica Pack Ltd's plan to relocate from Warrenpoint Harbour and build a corrugated fibreboard factory at Invest NI's Carnbane Industrial Estate in Newry.

Corrugated packaging specialist Twinplast invested £1.5 million (US$1.9 million) in a new extrusion line made by Omipa Extrusion Machinery in Milan, Italy, which will increase extrusion capacity three to four times while cutting energy use per ton by 40%.

UK Research and Innovation awarded Rotork UK Ltd a competitive contract for electric valve actuators for STFC RAL in Oxfordshire, with a stated value of 36,717.4 (currency not specified), work running from July to September 2024.

Macfarlane Group agreed to acquire foam protective packaging specialist Polyformes in a £11.5 million deal, reported on 8 July 2024.

Austin Hayes Ltd was awarded a £98,000,000 (excl. VAT) Ministry of Defence contract for procurement and refurbishment of munitions packaging and related services, with four one-year extension options. The notice was published on 5 July 2024.

On June 19, 2024 the 2M Group of Companies signed its first commercial agreement to exclusively supply Xampla's plastic-free Morro Coating to Huhtamaki for corrugate board foodservice containers, in a multi-year deal deployed at scale in on-the-go applications.

Post Office Limited awarded Kite Packaging Limited a contract to supply strapping consumables for note strapping machines and stretch wrap film for its National Distribution Centre, with a published value of £50,000.

Yorkshire Packaging Systems supplied a Mimi Uniblock 1123 sleeve wrapper that doubled packing capacity at a large UK corrugated board plant, and five more machines were later bought for the group's other UK sites.

Foodservice packaging maker amipak agreed to buy a second BOBST Novacut 106 ER 3.0 die-cutter to add production capacity at its 100,000 sq. ft. site. The deal was agreed on June 6, 2024 at drupa and delivery is due in September 2024.

Packaging supplier Invopak opened its first manufacturing plant in Hyde, Manchester, making tinplate containers such as UN-approved cans and lever lid tins. The EUR 5 million investment was made in response to post-Brexit supply chain issues.

INDUS Holding AG closed its acquisition of COLSON X-Cel, a medium-sized maker of industrial valves based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, on 5 June 2024. COLSON becomes wholly owned by the INDUS Group.

Corrugated packaging maker Jardin Corrugated Cases reappointed Bretts Transport as its sole carrier, with Bretts deploying dedicated vehicles to serve its Sutton, Ely site. The partnership started on January 1, 2024.

Copeland announced it is nearing completion of a £19 million investment to expand its Cookstown compressor manufacturing facility, adding a 3,500 square meter building with new production lines. Final touches are expected by September 2024. The announcement is dated May 14, 2024.

Invertek Drives celebrated producing its three millionth variable frequency drive at its headquarters near Welshpool, UK. The company is undergoing a major expansion including a new 2,750sqm facility to boost production capacity.

UDOR S.p.A. has become majority shareholder of British high-pressure pump maker Hughes Pumps Ltd. The deal adds Hughes products to UDOR's pump range covering 1 to 500 HP and 20 to 2800 bar.

Pennine Pneumatic Services (PPS) established a dedicated pneumatics branch within the existing Gateshead location of Pearson Hydraulics through an intra-group partnership. The branch is now open for business, offering a trade counter and Festo and other pneumatic products.

SSO Logistics has secured a three-year contract extension with packaging firm Venturepak, providing warehousing at its Haydock site and transport services through the Pallet-Track network.

Packaging maker Venturepak has invested £3m in a new manufacturing facility in Manchester to produce injection-moulded plastic containers for a household brand's ice cream products, previously imported.

Interpump Fluid Solutions UK acquired the entire share capital of Alltube Engineering Ltd for 2.3 million euro, as part of its 2024 UK expansion strategy.

Wilo UK acquired Arfon Rewinds Limited, trading as Arfon Engineering Services, to extend its pump installation, repair and maintenance capability in water management. The deal is listed in World Pumps' Q1 2024 M&A review.

Linde Hydraulics UK appointed Saleem Jabbar as the new Managing Director of its UK division.

Framatome signed contracts worth multi-billion euros with Sizewell C Ltd for its role in the Sizewell C nuclear new build in Suffolk, covering reactor heat production systems, I&C systems, fuel supply and maintenance services.

Zeus Packaging Group has acquired The Weedon Group, a UK corrugated packaging manufacturer, lifting Zeus's annualised revenues to an expected EUR 560 million.

Independent packaging group Zeus has acquired The Weedon Group, an integrated corrugated manufacturer with over 250 staff at sites in Manchester and Staffordshire and revenues above £30 million. The deal lifts Zeus's expected annualised revenues to €560 million.

Corrugated packaging maker Jardin Corrugated Cases reappointed Bretts Transport as its sole carrier, starting January 1 2024, after about five and a half years with another haulier. Bretts dedicated a rigid vehicle, four tractor units and ten trailers to the contract from Jardin's Sutton, Ely facility.

UK government agency FCDO Services awarded a single-supplier contract to The Alternative Pallet Company for recyclable cardboard pallets, crates and packaging elements. The contract is worth £250,000 and runs for 35 months from November 2023.

Princes signed a partnership with Capri-Sun Group to produce over 250 million juice pouches a year at its Bradford, UK site. Four production lines are moving from Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, with production starting autumn 2024 and about 50-60 new jobs.

Integrated Power Services, a North American servicing, engineering and remanufacturing firm, acquired UK electromechanical services provider Houghton International in Q2 2024.

Framatome officially announced a contract with EDF for the nuclear boilers for the Sizewell site in the UK, reportedly worth €4 billion and including control systems. The announcement was made in the weeks before the article date.

Princes will take over four production lines from Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and relocate them to its Bradford site to co-pack Capri-Sun juice pouches. Production starts in autumn 2024 with full capacity by spring 2025 and about 50-60 new jobs are expected.

INDUS Holding's HORNGROUP subsidiary Pneumatic Components agreed to buy 100% of COLSON X-Cel, a Rotherham, UK maker of industrial valves for measurement and control, which has about 40 employees.

INDUS Holding AG's portfolio company HORNGROUP, via Pneumatic Components Ltd, is buying 100% of COLSON X-Cel Ltd, a Rotherham-based maker of industrial measurement and control valves with about 40 employees and sales of around EUR 7 million.

NZT Power and the Northern Endurance Partnership awarded engineering, procurement and construction contracts worth about £4 billion across eight packages to nine firms for the Teesside East Coast Cluster carbon capture project, subject to final investment decisions planned for September 2024.

BIBUS UK Ltd, a distributor, announced a strategic collaboration with Thomson Linear Motion, a linear motion solutions provider.

UK bioplastic firm Kelpi won a contract with fresh fruit company Blue Skies, backed by Waitrose, to develop seaweed-based packaging for fresh-cut fruit, starting with a prototype and a pilot next year in an 18-month project.

US company Emerson signed a record £16m, two-year supply contract with spring manufacturer Hanson Springs in Rochdale, UK, on or around March 12, 2024. The deal is expected to grow Hanson's turnover to £33.5m in 2024.