Administrators for a Wigan-based food ingredients company are confident they will find a buyer for the group.
But they say they still may not have enough cash to pay more than £1.36m owed to Micap's creditors.
The former AIM-listed company, based at Richmond Hill in Pemberton, was put into administration in October.
Only two staff are based there, with m
ost of its workforce based in Ireland.
Micap got into difficulties after an abortive acquisition last year left it with professional fees it was unable to pay.
Encapsulates, a wholly owned subsidiary which manufactures and sells
food ingredients from a plant at Athlone in Ireland, was initially unaffected.
But since October it has been closed down after its main client lost confidence in the business, according to the report.
PKF said it had identified two parties who have expressed an interest in acquiring the business and assets of Encapsulates and the intellectual property of Micap and its ingredients business.
A spokesman said: "Negotiations are proceeding and the joint administrators anticipate that a sale will be completed in early 2009.
"It is unlikely the sale will achieve sufficient funds to provide a surplus to be returned to the shareholder, as a loan creditor."
The full article contains 209 words and appears in Wigan Evening Post newspaper.
