ZEUS PACKAGING group, the industrial and retail packaging distributor, has acquired two packaging firms for a combined total of almost €19 million.

The Dublin-based packaging group has acquired British packaging distribution firm All Purpose Packaging for approximately €11 million. It has paid a further €8 million for Omega Packaging, a supplier of refuse sacks and bin liners based in Bray, Co Wicklow.

Zeus Packaging said the purchases will bring its annual turnover to more than €90 million. All Purpose Packaging had a turnover of €15.9 million in the year to the end of March last. Established in 1987, it operates from Stevenage Hertfordshire.

Omega's Rainbow brand of plastic sacks are carried by most major supermarkets. It is also the sole Irish distributor of BioBags, a range of compostable and biodegradable bags.

Owned and managed by Cork entrepreneur Brian O'Sullivan, Zeus has been expanding rapidly in recent years. The most recent accounts available for the firm show it had a turnover of €26.5 million in 2006 and generated a pretax profit of €3.8 million. At the end of 2006 it had retained profits of €10.6 million.

Mr O'Sullivan said the latest acquisitions would make Zeus the largest independent packaging company in Ireland and the UK.

"Following the acquisition, in particular, of All Purpose Packaging we now have a very strong foothold in the UK market and look forward to growing the business both in the UK and further afield over the coming years," said Mr O'Sullivan.

The company already has a presence in the British market following the April 2007 acquisitions of Coogan Watts, a Belfast-based plastic packaging distributor, and Fillmore Packaging, a UK-based packaging distribution company, for a combined total of more than €10 million.

Zeus Packaging employs 250 staff, primarily at its premises in Rathcoole, Co Dublin. However, it also has facilities in Belfast and Cork.

In addition, it own a tape and label manufacturing plant in Lithuania.