Redundancies at photo film maker

The advent of digital cameras has hit the 125-year-old firm

Nearly half the staff at troubled photographic materials supplier Ilford Imaging have lost their jobs.

The 330 redundancies should increase the chances of finding a buyer for the Cheshire-based firm, administrators Grant Thornton said.

The 125-year-old company, the world's biggest black and white film maker, faces closure unless a buyer is found.

Ilford, which also owns a profitable Swiss business, has been hit hard by the popularity of digital cameras.

Its Swiss arm, which supplies dyes for inkjet photo printers, will continue trading normally.

But the film making business, based near Knutsford, Cheshire, is struggling with debts of more than £40m ( $71.75m).

Ilford is owned by UK venture capital firm Doughty Hanson, which bought the business in 1997 for £70.3m.

It has a 60% share of global black and white film sales. But sales have fallen by an average of 11% over the last three years.

Ilford Imaging's history can be traced to the basement of a house in Ilford, Essex, where Alfred Harman began producing Gelatin Dry Pictures in 1879.