Seventy staff retained by Butler's receiver

JUST over half of the 130 strong workforce at Butler Engineering has been retained by the receiver, Mr Ray Jackson. The company is keeping 70 employees on in order to work on a number of contracts while intensive efforts to find a buyer for the company continue.

Mr Jackson said yesterday that he was talking to 24 possible purchasers and was optimistic that a sale of the company, as a going concern could be achieved before Easter. Mr Jackson declined to say what price the company might be sold for. "I have no asking price," he explained.

Prospective purchasers got their first chance to look around the company's facilities at Portarlington, Co Laois, yesterday. A number of the larger Irish steel fabrication companies are understood to be interested, but most of the inquiries have come from abroad.

Butler's largest two Irish competitors are Joseph Murphy in Dublin and Carlow based Thompson Engineering. Neither would comment yesterday on whether they were interested in buying Butler.

However, the Dungannon based engineering group Powerscreen is understood to be interested. Powerscreen, which was listed on the Dublin Stock Exchange yesterday, has said that it plans to establish a second manufacturing operation in the midlands to complement its existing factory at Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath.

Although Powerscreen manufactures construction and agricultural machinery while Butler fabricates steel, mostly for the construction industry, the existing plant could be modified to suit its requirements.

Butler has a book value of £20 million and is one of the most modern steel fabrication facilities in Europe, according to Mr Jackson. The company went into receivership on February 16th owing £24 million.

This followed attempts to restructure the company, which has a deficit of £15 million. The restructuring foundered following the death of the company's founder, Mr Pat Butler, last December.

Industry sources said yesterday that Butler would be most attractive to a large international firm, such as Powerscreen. Prior to the receivership, the company was in the process of building a £30 million steel fabrication plant to service the export market. This level of capacity could only be utilised by a company that had access to larger foreign markets, according to these sources.