Huddersfield-based VTL Group (www.vtl-group.com) — a precision engineering company that supplies Jaguar Land Rover — has received £1.5 million from the Business Growth Fund (BGF).

It will now establish a capital investment programme before starting an eight-year project to supply engine components (via Ryobi UK) to JLR’s new £500 million engine manufacturing centre at the i54 business park near Wolverhampton.

The investment, which comes alongside loan funding from the HSBC banking group, builds on an initial £4 million invested in September 2013.

VTL will start supplying components in the second half of 2016 for use in the first new Jaguar engine to be designed and built in-house since the late 1990s.

Chief executive Bruno Jouan said: “This is a significant win for the business — and for British engineering. We’re delighted to be working with JLR on what is an incredibly exciting project.”

VTL is one of the UK’s largest precision contract manufacturing businesses within its niche areas of turbo and transmission components. Its customers include Cummins, Toyota, Renault, Nissan, Delphi and Schaeffler.

BGF regional head Andy Gregory said: “BGF has now backed 23 manufacturing firms in the past three years, including the VTL Group.

These companies are critical to the UK economy and our global competitiveness, and their success depends on having the right infrastructure in place to help them implement their growth plans.”