The receiver appointed to Dublin confectionary manufacturing company Clara Candy said yesterday that he was optimistic a purchaser could be found for the premises.

The 105 workers were told of their redundancy and legal entitlements as preferential creditors yesterday after a takeover bid by a British manufacturing company failed in November. But the receiver, Mr Billy O'Riordan, of Coopers & Lybrand, said that there was plenty of local and international interest from potential purchasers.

Mr O'Riordan was called in before Christmas after discussions on a possible buy-out by a Liverpoolbased manufacturer, Tavener's, which Clara supplied, failed. The managing director of Tavener's, Mr Rod Sears-Black, said that the discussions with his company had held off the receiver's appointment. "The financial conditions of the company were worse than we anticipated when we started discussions," he said.

A spokesman for Forbairt, which has £125,000 worth of preferential shares in Clara, said that the agency's interest was in the factory continuing as a viable business.