There is growing speculation that a group headed by chief executive Mr Pat Nevin and the head of the oil division, Mr Aidan McKeever, is planning either to take the company private through a management buyout, or buy its Irish oil distribution subsidiary Jones Oil. Jones is currently valued at just over £10 million, one-third of which is accounted for by the group's cash hoard.

Mr Nevin was unavailable for comment, but informed sources have indicated that an announcement on the restructuring was planned for this week, but has been deferred for a number of reasons.

These are understood to be a preference by the Jones board that any bid should be for the entire company and not for individual assets and also dissatisfaction among the minority shareholders in Blugas, the LPG distributor in which Jones has a 63 per cent stake. These minority shareholders include Bord na Mona, which acquired its stake when it bought Suttons Oil from IAWS, and a BES fund operated by Allied Irish Banks.

It is understood that the management group prefers to buy Jones Oil - Mr Nevin joined Jones from the oil distribution industry and Mr McKeever is managing director of Jones Oil. While small and operating on tight margins, Jones Oil is thought to be profitable, while Blugas is struggling to maintain a market share in the face of strong competition from the two giants of the Irish market, Flogas and Calor.

The other Jones assets are a small oil distribution group in the UK, Minster Fuels and a small manufacturing company, Appian Fasteners.

Jones shareholders, who received £18 million in a distribution of most of the group's cash surplus earlier this year, are likely to welcome any bid as long as it is priced at a reasonable level. With a market capitalisation of just over £10 million, the company is simply too small to be of interest to institutional investors.