Optare says 'positive' talks continue

The company, which has one of its two operating sites in Leeds, is at an advanced stages of talks with a potential new partner.

On January 7 it revealed it had received a preliminary approach which could lead to an offer being made for the majority of its shares.

Chief executive Jim Sumner will tell investors at its Annual General Meeting today that the talks continue to be positive and a further announcement will be made in due course.

He said today: "The board continues to believe that entering into such a partnership will be a key part of Optare's strategy to realise the full potential of the business by benefiting from joint sales activity, new distribution channels, low cost sourcing and potential technology sharing."

Optare has almost halved its workforce from a peak of 913 full-time staff to 474, resulting in a 2.5m non-recurring redundancy charge.