Hood Yacht Spars has changed its name to Formula Hood and manufacturing will continue at its existing Burnham facility. With Formula's strong commitment to the future no redundancies are anticipated in the 25 person workforce, said the company.

Burnham will continue to support major East Coast manufacturers and specialise in cruising rigs, as it has done for the last 20 years.

John Boyce, founder of Boyce Spars, and later Hood Spars, remains a consultant to the company, while Hugh Carpenter has been appointed to guide the Burnham facility through its integration with Formula.

Formula, together with its subsidiary Formula Hood, now becomes the UK's largest producer of carbon and aluminium yacht spars, supplying its products to racing, quality cruising and superyachts around the world.

"The addition of Formula Hood to the company means that we can continue our expansion of the Lymington factory to cater for high performance rigs for racing yachts, " commented Merritt.

"These include Americas Cup boats, Volvo round the world yachts and superyachts, further developing our carbon fibre spar technology."

Both Formula and Formula Hood, under Boyce ownership, were involved with Joe Vittoria's Mirabella V project, the Burnham company having developed and built the massive Kevlar and GRP rudders over carbon stocks.

"As a group, " said Merritt, "Formula can now offer the highest quality spar technology for virtually all types of sailing yacht."