Remit hopes to begin training franchised dealers’ apprentices by the end of the year.

But the first priority is to stabilise the business, said chief executive Rob Foulston.

The Remit brand was relaunched by the RMIF after it bought back the apprentice learning division from administrators for Carter & Carter for £62,500.

The deal was spearheaded by Foulston, who owns an education publishing business, Education & Media Services, and the awarding body ITEC.

As a former insolvency specialist at Deutsche Bank, he was interested in Carter & Carter’s demise and contacted RMIF finance director Kevin Waterman through a friend.

Foulston, now a minority shareholder in Remit, said there were other bidders for the motor apprentice operation, including a consortium of colleges.

Having only had the business for six weeks, Foulston said he thinks it is already profitable – and he has told the RMIF board as much.

The operation is currently around a third of the size it was when the RMIF sold it for £25.5m to Carter & Carter two years ago.

Additional payents put the final fee close to £30 million.

Then it had around 6,500 apprentices and several hundred staff.

Now there are 2,500 from independent garages on its books, and 75 staff, but Foulston plans to build it back up to the old level within 18 months.

“There are 50,200 independent garages in the UK for us to target and we hope to take on franchised dealers and manufacturers’ training programmes in due course, some by the end of the year,” he added.

“We offer the industry quality and consistency.

Those are what Remit was known for originally and which were lost during Carter & Carter’s ownership.”

Its management comprises Foulston, chairman Paul Williams, finance director Kevin Waterman, operations director Steve Yardley and quality director Anthony Bromirski.

A sales and marketing director may be recruited once the business has grown.

Its headquarters is at Carter & Carter’s site in Ruddingham, Nottingham, but Foulston plans to move it soon to a new site in the Nottingham area.

NFDA chairman Paul Williams said the acquisition of Remit was good for the RMIF and for the industry.

“The return of Remit as a business and as a brand means that the industry can direct training as it is needed,” he said.