Northern Ireland textiles group Lamont remains in deep financial trouble with net debt at end-2000 of £33 million sterling (#53 million). The group is only able to continue trading with the support of its banks.

Last year, Lamont had operating losses of £2.7 million sterling but a series of charges meant that the total loss for 2000 was £19.4 million sterling, compared to the £15.7 million loss in 1999.

Lamont's restructuring involved the closure of its carpet and carpet yarns division and the sale of its Moygashel carpets division. While these disposals eliminated trading losses from the two operations going forward, they produced a £6.9 million sterling loss last year while Lamont also took a £6 million sterling charge against the costs of disposal and closure.

Since the year-end, however, Lamont has managed to sell property at a profit of £3.5 million sterling but this will make only a small dent in the group's £33 million sterling debt mountain. Lamont closed at just 81/2p sterling yesterday valuing the company at just £2.8 million sterling. Ten years ago, it was trading at 380p sterling.