A LEADING North-East retailer, with a showroom in Ponteland, has announced a change of ownership.

Pennine Home Improvements, which also has showrooms in Benton, Gosforth Park and Birtley, has been purchased by The Conservatory Outlet Group.

Having had a customer-supplier relationship for the past three years, The Conservatory Group takes over the ownership of the business on the back of increasingly successful trading results.

Pennine has been owned by parent company Crownfold Ltd since 2008, and currently has around 150 staff across its four sites.

Conservatory Outlet Group chief executive, Greg Kane, said: “We’re delighted to be supporting the team at Pennine through the next stages of growth, continuing to expand the company’s retail presence across the North- East.”

Mark Tinnion, who will succeed Graham Auld as managing director of Pennine, said: “Whilst it’s very much business as usual for us, this represents a fantastic opportunity to accelerate both the growth and advancement of the business which we were already planning for; it is great news for the business and great news for our customers.”