PlusNet has swallowed Parbin Ltd - the internet outfit that trades as Metronet - for £1.7m, the Sheffield-based ISP announced today.

As part of the deal PlusNet adds more than 16,000 broadband punters to its existing customer base as the ISP pursues its "strategy of aggressive organic growth".

While PlusNet intends to retain the Metronet brand "for the foreseeable future", it has yet to make a decision about the ISP's 20 or so staff based in Harrow, north London. Currently reviewing its staffing needs, a spokesman for Plusnet told us: "It is not possible to comment on redundancies - it is too early to say."

In the year to March 2005 Parbin reported turnover of £2.1m and an operating profit of £40,000. ®

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