Acquisitive etail group The Hut has bought web-hosting business, UK2, to bolster its technology platform and accelerate its international expansion plans.

The group, which also owns Grow Gorgeous, IdealShape and Myprotein, confirmed its latest purchase today.

It was previously reported that the Hut could pay private equity company LDC over £50m for the UK2

The acquisition will allow The Hut to speed up the expansion of its technology platform as it extends its retail offering to a string of new international markets.

Founder and chief executive Matthew Moulding said: “This is a significant technology investment to support our growth plans and provide a world class proprietary ecommerce platform and infrastructure to increase capacity, speed and resilience for our global customer base.

“The move will also see UK2 become a core part of our technology proposition, helping us achieve our ambition of becoming a world class platform for technology clients.

“We expect this to be the start of further significant investment in UK technology with a further 1,000 new technology jobs planned over the next three years.”

The fast-growing group’s profits surged 67% to £50m in the year to December 31, 2016, when sales advanced 50% to £501m.

The Hut made acquisitions totalling more than £60m last year and its financial performance is likely to fuel speculation that it may seek an IPO.