Emergency talks over chimney factory

Receivers had planned to sell off the factory's assets

Talks are being held on Wednesday to try to save 180 jobs in north Devon.

An unnamed firm has expressed interest in buying the Selkirk Manufacturing Limited factory in Barnstaple, which went into administration two months ago.

Receivers Deloitte and Touche had announced on Monday that the plant, which makes chimneys and flues, would close and its assets would be sold off.

But representatives from the North Devon Chamber of Commerce, North Devon District Council and the Devon and Cornwall Business Council are to meet with the receivers with the offer from the unnamed company.

Offer made

The receivers had been offered previous bids to take over the business as a going concern but none of them was high enough.

The latest firm, which is in the same sector, had looked at the factory with a view to buying stock and equipment. But it has put forward an offer to buy the company and run it as a going concern.

Jeremy Filmer-Bennett of the North Devon Chamber of Commerce said of the new potential purchasers: "It's someone in the same industry. It's worth saying that and they want to run it as a going concern.

"They did come down to look at just stripping it out and taking the machinery away. But, having seen the quality of the staff and the place, they want to run it."