The company has agreed to buy Grovewood Property Management, a Weston-super-Mare company serving the residential property market.

The acquisition was agreed after HML made a £250,000 cash offer. The deal is expected to close in early September when Grovewood will start trading as part of HML Andertons, a residential property manager in southern England.

Grovewood is being sold by Bernhard Land, who established the business in the late 1990s. He will remain with the company for at least 12 months post-completion.

HML chief executive Rob Plumb says this is a significant step for the company and expands its services in Southern England. He adds: ‘Although small, this acquisition shows that while our core business is not as significantly impacted by the recent housing issues as some of our larger competitors, the current conditions create excellent opportunities for us to grow the business through carefully considered additions to our portfolio.’

The target business specialises in the management of blocks of residential flats in Bristol. It manages more than 1,200 residential units, including 200 blocks and houses. In the year to June, Grovewood’s unaudited pre-tax profits stood at £48,000 on a turnover of £147,000.