ANOTHER acquisition has been made by York-based, DocQwise Business Services Ltd, in its bid to set up a national network of document services companies.

DocQwise, which works for a series of national accounts, from its base at the City Business Centre in Station Rise, has bought up a branch of The Color Company, The Headrow, Leeds for more than £100,000.

The deal involves DocQwise Business Services taking on three Color Company staff, and moving the Leeds operation to bigger 2,000 sq ft premises in nearby Albion Street.

The move follows DocQwise's six-figure acquisition of the Leicester branch of The Color Company, earlier this year to give it a strategic base in The Midlands.

The Leeds branch, which is being re-branded to DocQwise, offers a variety of digital black and white and colour photo copying, printing, binding and booklet-creation services. It has a well-established customer base in Leeds, including many small to medium-sized manufacturing and professional services businesses.

Jan Eskildsen, managing director of DocQwise, who started the business with a management buy-in in 1998, said he was delighted with the new acquisition.

"This gives us our first base in West Yorkshire," he said. "We already have clients in Leeds, but knew we needed a base in the city to offer the best services to local businesses."

Updated: 09:16 Tuesday, July 22, 2003