A RADIO company which recently bought local stations across the region was yesterday toasting another acquisition.

The Local Radio Company (LRC), which was set up by a group of former bosses at Jazz FM, doubled its stake in Lancashire station Two Boroughs Radio for £1.2m.

The company bought Radio Investments last month, which owns Alpha FM in Darlington, Minster FM in York and Sunderland's Sun FM.

It raised more than £50m in a stock market flotation, and its Lancashire acquisition is the first since then.

The purchase of a 32.6 per cent shareholding from Johnston Press marked an expansion into a new part of the country.

LRC already owns 22 stations in the South-West and North-East and in Scotland, which it gained through the purchase of Radio Investments.

LRC chief executive Richard Wheatly, who was the boss of Jazz FM for seven years, said: "If we can make more acquisitions like this we will be happy. We are looking at all groups of stations and individual stations that fit in with what we are doing.''

The acquisition came as LRC announced a 14 per cent increase in turnover during the three months to May 31, compared with a 14.5 per cent rise in the five months to the end of February.

Mr Wheatly said he was thrilled by the figures, which were at the top end of what radio stations across the country were reporting.

LRC, based in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, employs 315 staff, including 255 at its radio stations, and has a weekly audience of 766,000 listeners.