WORCESTER investment firm Pemberstone Ventures, which is based in Whittington Hall, Whittington Road, has purchased a 200-strong photographic product manufacturer headquartered in Cheshire.

Harman Technology makes the Ilford brand of black and white camera film and turned over £19.4m last year, with sales driven by a resurgence in analogue photography. The business was founded in its current form in 2005 when the former directors of Ilford Imaging bought the company out of administration.

Harman is owned by its management team and will continue to be run by managing director Peter Elton and finance director Andy Taylor following the Pemberstone acquisition. Pemberstone's chief executive Mark Anslow and chairman Andrew Baker will also join the board.

Mr Anslow said: "We have been tracking the performance of Harman for some time and are very positive about the potential we see. We’ve made this purchase with the intention of supporting Harman to achieve significant growth over the coming years. We are very excited by the potential of the analogue photography movement and believe that Harman is uniquely placed to drive the resurgent film market into the future."