THE entrepreneur who built up Burnley-based Northern Textiles into one of the UK's leading pillow and quilt manufacturers has announced a "dream £8 million deal".

Bill Gleave, chief executive of French plc, Northern Textiles' parent company, has sold the Rufflette curtain tape brand to an Austrian group The deal was made up of £7.1 million cash with up to £1 million being released from debtors and creditors.

He said the company had achieved a price 20 times the brand's post-tax earnings which he described as an exceptional boost to shareholder value.

Mr Gleave took the helm at French plc in 1998 when, aged 32, he became Britain's youngest-ever chief executive of a listed company.

He took the job after selling Northern Textiles which he had built up from scratch to a business with more than 200 staff and a turnover of £8 million a year

The French group now comprises the former Northern Textiles business; Regalead, the window decoration division; and Thomas French, the fast-growing Bury-based cushions business.

Mr Gleave said: "We actively sought this sale as we believed that consolidation was inevitable in the curtain tape market and we wanted to be the ones dictating the pace.

"We have managed to sell at the top of the market and the valuation we have agreed is a reflection of the worth of the Rufflette brand and a mark of confidence in both the Rufflette team and the health of the business.

"We have had a cash injection of more than £7 million and we now have to concentrate on the best way of maximising the shareholder benefit of this.

"We will be scrutinising a range of options including expansion through acquisition, investment in our remaining businesses or returning surplus funds to our shareholders."

The Rufflette business was sold to Bandex Textil & Handels which will continue production at its factory in Sharston, Manchester, where it employs 110 people.