NORTH Yorkshire frozen food firm Whitby Seafoods has expanded with the acquisition of the scampi operation of Scottish rival Dawnfresh Seafoods.

Dawnfresh Seafoods, which is Britain’s biggest producer of trout, announced the deal to sell its entire frozen scampi division, including stocks, to Whitby Seafood.

Laura Whittle, marketing and sales director of Whitby Seafoods, said: "We are hoping this acquisition of assets causes as little disruption as possible to the customers affected.

"We will continue to offer them the top notch scampi, excellent service and market leading quality the Whitby brand is famous for.

"Whitby Seafoods are a buccaneering, privately owned, family business with more than 30 years' experience.

"We are the UKs largest processor of scampi with a beacon brand that has character and provenance."

Dawnfresh, which employees 550 full-time staff, said the sale would not affect any of its workers.

Billionaire owner Alastair Salvesen said: "I would like to thank all of our longstanding customers and suppliers for their support over many years and I wish the Whittle family and their team at Whitby continuing success in the future.”

Whitby Seafoods was founded by owner Graham Whittle in 1985 from the assets of the Whitby Shellfish company. The last decade has seen the business, originally focused on the catering sector, expand its retail side to 50 per cent of its operations.

Mr Whittle, who now runs the business with his daughter Laura and his sons Edward and Daniel, began selling scampi to local restaurants and pubs, but as demand for British scampi grew so did the business and he began supplying other local outlets.