AN offer to buy a beleaguered engineering firm has brought New Year cheer to workers at the Kidderminster factory currently in administration.

Bosses at the unnamed company are currently going through the books at UEF Automotive plant in Stourport Road where the fate of 147 staff currently hangs in the balance.

Administrators KPMG warned at the end of November that unless a buyer was found in the coming weeks to take over the plant as a going concern, operations would have to be wound down. A deal to buy the factory and its sister site in Bromsgrove collapsed at the "eleventh hour" in November.

Pat Connolly, chairman of shop stewards at the Kidderminster plant, said: "There have been two bids. One has been rejected but is still on the table. The other has not yet been accepted and the firm who have made it are currently going through the books. A decision is expected in about three weeks."

He said staff at the plant were keeping their fingers crossed but were hopeful the deal would go through.

He added the situation in Kidderminster was much better than at Bromsgrove where the plant was set to close in March following the failure of administrators to find a buyer - 500 jobs will be lost.

He added: "We've got work to produce and our wages are being paid."

A spokeswoman for KPMG confirmed the Kidderminster factory was in the midst of negotiations with a potential buyer and said Myles Halley, joint administrator for UEF, was hopeful of securing a sale by the end of January.

She added a buyer had not yet been found for the Bromsgrove plant and while a formal notice of closure had not yet been announced, closure was expected by the end of March.