Jones Group has announced the sale of Tube Rollers Ltd to Duggan Steel Group Ltd for £1.1 million. This is the last of the group's non-core businesses to be sold as part of its asset disposal programme.

A Co Kilkenny-based engineering company, Tube Rollers made an operating profit of £58,000 in 1997 and had net assets of £878,000, including bank borrowings, at the end of last year.

Jones said the loss on the disposal, following a 1998 restructuring at Tube Rollers and the utilisation of specific group provisions, would be around £750,000.

The cash released as a result of the disposal will be placed on short-term deposit pending completion of the tender offer which Jones is using to organise a cash payout to shareholders.

Duggan Steel, which has two other plants in Kilkenny and a substantial distribution network throughout Ireland, said substantial synergies existed between its operations and Tube Rollers.

Tube Rollers, the only steel tube manufacturing company in Ireland, currently employs 16 people.