A PETITION to wind up Dublin technology firm Xsil Ltd was adjourned by the High Court yesterday when it was heard that the directors of the company had appointed a receiver.

The petition had been taken by Gavin King and 11 other former members of staff.

Xsil, which sold manufacturing tools for makers of computer chips, ceased trading in October 2008. At that time, it employed 44 people. They claim they are owed their final month’s salary, holiday pay and pay in lieu of a notice period. The total amount staff claim to be owed is in the region of €250,000.

Although all staff were let go and the company ceased trading, a liquidator or receiver had not been appointed. In the absence of any payments from Xsil, the former workers received statutory redundancy payments from the Social Insurance Fund operated by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

Miss Justice Mary Laffoy heard a receiver had been appointed to Xsil last Friday by its directors. As a result, the hearing of the winding-up petition was adjourned for four weeks.

When contacted by The Irish Times, Xsil director and co-founder Peter Conlon declined to say who had been appointed as receiver but said it would be advertised in the coming days. Unlike a liquidator, a receiver is appointed by a creditor and can either manage the company or dispose of assets in order to satisfy the debt.

Documents filed in the Companies Office show that a charge was registered against Xsil in April 2009 in favour of Mr Conlon.

The other directors of Xsil Ltd are Anna Kupka and Patrick Rainsford.

The last filed accounts for Xsil show that it generated a pretax profit of €8.5 million and had revenues of €38.3 million in 2006.

Last May a related company, Xsil Technology, sold intellectual property and machinery to a US firm called Electro Scientific Industries for $2.3 million.

It is understood, however, that Xsil Ltd has no assets to speak of and it is unclear how a receiver will be able to realise funds to pay the staff their claims.