London, England, February 2--A mystery buyer has launched a last-minute bid to save Scotland's oldest carpet manufacturer, according to the Glasgow Evening Times.
The newspaper said that Stoddard International, which is in receivership after amassing debts of more than £9m, may survive if accountants can agree a rescue package this week.
Receivers axed 226 workers at the Kilmarnock-based company earlier this month after the crisis came to light.
Now talks are under way to safeguard the remaining 120 jobs and keep carpet manufacturing in Ayrshire.
Colin Dempster, of Ernst & Young, one of the joint receivers, said: "We have a preferred bidder now, but at this stage I am afraid I cannot say much more. It is going to be a key week.
"This is not going to be an easy deal to close, although I cannot say what company is involved."
It is thought the Bank of Scotland has provided a £500,000 loan to the receivers to keep the company trading during the negotiations.
There was mounting speculation that the country's oldest carpet firm would not attract any potential bidders, due to the dramatic drop in Stoddard's Axminster carpet sales.
The firm, which was launched almost 170 years ago, provided the red carpet on which the Queen walked down the aisle of Westminster Abbey on her wedding day.
It also supplied the carpets for the Holywood blockbuster Titanic.
But soaring sales in wooden and laminate flooring, along with cheaper woven carpets from abroad, were blamed for the company's cash problems.
Directors had struggled for a number of years to cap the multi-million pound debts.
They axed 200 jobs and even sold their headquarters in Elderslie, near Paisley, for £10m, consolidating operations at their existing site in Kilmarnock.
But debts continued to mount in the run-up to Christmas and the directors had no choice but to ask their bankers to appoint receivers in a last desperate attempt to save the ailing company.
