EXPAT Supplies Limited, holding company for York's award-winning expatshopping.com, has taken over Kingsbarn, its main competitor for an undisclosed sum.

It makes the Osbaldwick-based venture, which provides goods and services to the British diplomatic community overseas, the UK's premier operator just 18 months after its launch.

And while three people have been taken on to bring numbers at its warehouse headquarters to 12, the total could be 20 within a year.

Under the terms of the deal, Expat Supplies takes over the commercial activities of Kingsbarn, which has been trading for more 25 years, and will transfer the completion of embassies' orders to its fulfilment centre in York, almost doubling annual turnover.

Annual sales at Expat Supplies are expected to reach about £3 million a year with the take over of the Kingsbarn business, supplying goods to British Embassies and High Commissions in almost 50 countries.

In addition, the company will supply international business customers, such as Dairy Farm International, one of the leading retailers in the Asia Pacific region.

Expat Supplies concentrates on large orders from British embassies and high commissions around the world, while expatshopping.com serves the yearnings of 13.5 million individual British expatriates worldwide for old fashioned tuck from home with products ranging from Bovril to baked beans.

The takeover coincides with the announcement that the company has now appointed Philip Evans, former head of the European retail team at Andersen, the global business advisory group, as its chief executive.

Mr Evans joined Andersen's corporate finance team in 1998, becoming a partner in 1999.

Harry Cole, chairman of Expat Supplies, said: "Attracting someone of Philip's calibre to the business was viewed as essential in terms of building on our leading position in the expat market."

Expat Supplies and expatshopping.com, was launched in April last year, the brainchild of former soldiers, Richard Finch and Simon Aldrich who spotted the market for traditional British goods among expatriates longing for a taste of home.

And expatshopping.com, which won two major awards in last year's Evening Press Business of the Year competition, now has an online shopping list of 1,500 British grocery products and projected annual turnover of more than £1 million.

In separate agreements, it has also become the exclusive provider of groceries to subscribers to FTExpat.com, the expatriate site launched by the Financial Times last year.

Mr Evans, who was responsible for raising investment funds for the venture whilst at Andersen, said the takeover demonstrated the scale of ambition for the business.