Business specialists KPMG have spent more than two weeks trying to find a buyer for Fine Art Wallcoverings.

But despite significant interest in the firm no company has made an offer and 154 jobs have been lost.

"The jobs have been cut because there aren't sufficient orders on the books to keep everyone working," said David Chadwick, of KPMG.

The remaining 87 staff will be kept on after working shifts at the company in Holmes Chapel were cut.

"Hopefully this scaling down of the level of operations will create more time for us to try to find a buyer," said KPMG administrator Brian Green

The century-old firm. which manufactures wallpaper and fabrics. has an annual turnover of £28 million and is one of the largest employers in the village.

But it has been affected by lack of orders, problems at its Canadian parent company and economic turmoil in Russia and the Far East.

Yesterday (Tuesday) borough councillor Rab Parry said he hoped the firm could still be bought as a going concern to improve the prospects of future employment.

"The number of redundancies are extremely worrying but hopefully it will speed up the process of finding a buyer," he said.

"The last thing we would want in Holmes Chapel is for the factory to close."

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