Jobs have been saved after the rescue of a long-standing manufacturing company.

Brighton-based Horsell Electrics Ltd ceased trading at the end of last month and its 12 employees were told they faced unemployment.

But now the company’s assets have been bought by Drallim Industries Ltd, an engineering, equipment and systems manufacturer based in St Leonards.

Nine staff have been re-employed, while two have found work elsewhere and a third has retired.

The new business will trade as Horsell Electrics, part of the industrial division of Drallim.

Dave Mooney, managing director of Drallim, said:“We are delighted to be able to step in to save the Horsell name within the Drallim Group.”

Horsell had been in business for 60 years and customers included Sussex Police as well as schools and hospitals across the county.

Former managing director Richard Ainsworth, whose grandfather founded the company, will continue working with Drallim as a consultant.

He said: “I am proud of the work we have done. To save jobs and the Horsell name is very pleasing.

“We received some customer feedback recently and, although people thought Horsell was a great company, they also felt we were old fashioned.

“But Drallim is bucking the trend and will be able to bring in new, modern technology to bring us up to date.”

The two bosses began discussions in February after being introduced by the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS South East).

Drallim plans to invest about £250,000 in Horsell, relocating the company from its current base in Hollingdean Road to a new factory in Shoreham, which has been kitted out with the latest equipment.

Mr Mooney hopes the move will lead to more people being taken on.

He said: “I am optimistic that with our product development team in St Leonards we can develop the Horsell business and grow it even further.

“I have a great vision for what we can do but we have to stabilise it first.”

Drallim has performed impressively despite the recession by moving into new markets and increasing sales.

In October last year, it acquired Likeprod Engineers, based close to Heathrow, to move into manufacturing for the aerospace industry.

The company also recently took on two workers from vacuum equipment maker Edwards, which is making hundreds of staff redundant in Sussex as it moves its operations to South Korea and the Czech Republic.

Mr Mooney said: “We are passionate about keeping engineering jobs in the UK rather than shipping them abroad.”