Bid to sell mills being stepped up.

Byline: Henryk Zientek ,

Insolvency experts are stepping up efforts to sell two mills.

Administrators have called for "best and final offers" for weaving firm Huddersfield Fine Worsted and spinner Globe Worsted.

The companies were put into administration in August by parent group Hartley Investment Trust.

Administrators from Leeds-based accountancy firm Bartfields have been running both companies since then, while trying to sell the firms as going concerns.

A spokeswoman for Bartfields said: "We have asked for best and final offers and these are being examined."

She could not comment on the number or nature of the bids, but said it was hoped to reach agreement in the next few weeks.

There have been no redundancies among the firms' combined 260-strong workforce and both businesses are trading normally.

Huddersfield Fine Worsted, based at Kirkheaton, and Slaithwaite-based Globe Worsted are among Huddersfield's most famous textile names.

Hartley Investment Trust said it had brought in the administrators after a breakdown in talks between the group and the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise over previously deferred PAYE and VAT.