THE Chinese car maker looking to use part of the MG Rover site at Longbridge is to get more time to come up with a business plan.

Site owner St Modwen Properties said it expected Nanjing to sign a short-term extension to its current licence, which runs out on Wednesday next week.

The new deal - likely to be for six months - should enable Nanjing to firm up its plans before committing to a long-term contract of about 35 years.

St Modwen chairman Anthony Glossop said: "At the moment we see no reason not to be hopeful that there's a long-term future for Nanjing at Longbridge."

Nanjing requires about 100 acres to restart production of MG sports cars, with the remainder of Longbridge reverting to St Modwen for a £500m redevelopment featuring offices, a technology park and hundreds of homes.

When the car maker bought MG Rover for around £50m last year, it pledged to "seriously consider" Longbridge as the location for its manufacturing site. Some of the production systems at Longbridge are likely to be shipped to China but Nanjing said it intended to restart production at the West Midlands site next year.

The update on Longbridge came as St Modwen - a regeneration specialist with sites around the UK - announced a 15 per cent rise in full-year profits to £46.3m in the year to November 30. Much of the improvement was down to 38 property disposals, including shopping centres in the North West.

They were two out of of 11 developments to raise more than £1 million in the year.

St Modwen said it also made "excellent progress" on its major mixed use town centre regeneration schemes in London - Edmonton Green and Wembley Central.

Mr Glossop said the company had made a strong start to the new financial year with agreements in place that should realise profits in excess of £16 million.

He added: "The general economic climate is perhaps more uncertain than for some time but nonetheless I am looking forward with confidence to another year of progress."