THE 300-strong workforce at Carpets International in Crumlin is facing an unsure future after the company went into receivership.

Workers were shocked last Thursday when they discovered that the company, which employs a total of 900 staff at six sites across the UK, was facing financial problems.

Official receivers Pricewaterhouse Coopers, which hopes to find a trade buyer for the £100 million turnover business and advertised it for sale in the financial press on Tuesday, is blaming the downturn in demand for traditional floorings such as carpets.

Pricewaterhouse Coopers' Stuart Madison said: "If you can catch the decline of a business early enough you can do something about it.

"We have spoken to suppliers and customers and all would like to see the business saved.

This has come as a shock to everyone."

Mr Madison said the most likely source of a bid would be one of the giant Belgian or German carpet-makers, which have undermined UK carpet making with cheap imports.

He added that the EU's statutory 90-day notice period for staff did not mean a lot when a company was in receivership.

"If the notice period isn't served, the workers have an action against the company, but if the company is in receivership they simply join a list of other creditors," he explained

Staff at Carpets International, which was rated in the top 100 of Gwent's employers in 2000, were understandably shocked at the news when they came off shift last Thursday.

Shocked

Production worker Mike Knott said: "This has come out of the blue and we are all worried about whether we will lose our jobs."

Colleague, Keith Taylor, said: "We are a good workforce but we're not sure if our jobs will be saved."

And Susan Parnell, who has worked at the factory for 19 years, added: "Nobody knows anything. We are very worried because some of us have been here for a long time."

Transport and General Workers Union branch secretary Lawrence Long said: "This company has a cash-flow crisis; we believe it has lost £3.7 million in the last seven months.

"We suspect redundancies are in the pipeline."

Don Touhig, the Islwyn MP and under secretary of state for Wales, said: "Having visited the factory many times I know the excellent job that the workers do - this is no fault of theirs. I will do all I can to help."

Islwyn AM Irene James added: "We want to offer our support."

Crumlin councillor Keith Lloyd said it was another sad blow. "Every time things seem to be looking up and we create jobs on the