The board of Jones Group yesterday defended the sale of its radiators business to the Swiss group Zehnder for £1.2 million, earlier this month.

The Jones chief executive, Mr Pat Nevin, said the sale to the company which has a 21 per cent stake in Jones, was not a "sweetheart deal".

The chairman, Mr Eugene Greene, told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting that he was very "comfortable with the deal". He was responding to a question from a shareholder who said that selling Runtalrad and Thermal Radiator for £1.2 million when they had net assets of £2.7 million may not have been the correct course of action.

"Why would you sell a company which is generating profits of £1.7 million for the price you did?" asked the shareholder.

Mr Greene said people had to look at the history of the companies, which were not very profitable over the years.

He told shareholders that there was no point in arguing about the deal now as it is "done and over".

Jones will hold an extraordinary general meeting on June 10th to approve of the sale and other recent disposals. The issue of a cash payout to shareholders will also be addressed at this meeting.

When asked will the Swiss company sell its 21 per cent stake in the future, Mr Greene said he did not know and had not asked Zehnder about its future intentions.

The amount of cash which will be paid out to shareholder has not been decided yet, although 100p per share held is likely.