Limerick poultry firm Castlemahon Food Products has been placed into official liquidation by the High Court.

KPMG partner Kieran Wallace, who had been appointed provisional liquidator last month, has been named as the official liquidator at the company, which employs 300 people at its plant in Newcastlewest.

Mr Wallace was granted power by the court to continue trading and to open a trading account with AIB in Newcastlewest. The order will continue until December 11th.

The court heard that a number of companies had expressed an interest in the poultry firm, which has assets of €11 million.

Castlemahon had traded at a loss for a number of years. Cumulative losses over the past five years totalled more than €19 million, including a loss of nearly €6 million last year.

It was said that the poultry company had debts of €€14.9 million.