UK: Rescue Package Imminent For Carrington Fabrics

A rescue package is close to completion for a British textile company threatened with closure for the last five months.Carrington Performance Fabrics, which is based at Dewsbury in West Yorkshire, was one of two companies warned in May by owners IPT Group that they faced the possibility of closure. The other company is Lantor Weaving, which is based at Standish in Lancashire.IPT has now revealed that a deal could be concluded within the next few weeks for Carrington. "We have a fairly substantial commitment from a bidder," said IPT's financial director, Douglas Waddell.Mr Waddell would not reveal the identity of the bidder, but he did confirm that it was a UK company. "It is someone in a similar line of business," said Mr Waddell. He added that IPT expected operations at Carrington to continue as now under new ownership.The news will be greeted with relief by the 115 workers at Carrington Performance Fabrics. The company said they had worked hard to improve efficiency in an attempt to save the business. They have been working under a cloud for most of the current year.The news has not been so good, however, for their colleagues at Lantor Weaving. IPT has been unable to find a buyer for the business and 90 out of a total workforce of 111 have now been made redundant. A skeleton workforce is being maintained at the moment to satisfy IPT's existing customers, but that is a purely short term measure."I would expect it to close completely within the next few weeks," said Mr Waddell.Both Lantor and Carrington Performance Fabrics produce fabrics for the apparel, sports and leisure industries. IPT also owns the Elton Cop Dyeing Company at Bury in Lancashire and Textured Jersey in Leicester.IPT has blamed the strength of Sterling and customers switching to overseas suppliers for the difficulties at Carrington Performance Fabrics and Lantor Weaving.