Creditors of MG Rover are likely to get "nil or negligible" payouts, administrators to the stricken British carmaker admitted yesterday.

The chances of anyone buying the business and resuming production at the Longbridge plant in Birmingham were "very slim", administrators from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said, leaving hundreds of creditors with little hope of receiving even 5p per £1 of debt. The group collapsed in April with debts of £1.4 billion.

The PwC executives had floated the 5p figure in May, based on an expected break-up value for MG Rover's assets of £80.5 million.

But yesterday Tony Lomas, joint administrator, said: "The actual value will be very much less." Significant sums will have to be deducted for maintaining the empty Longbridge plant and for paying PwC's fees, which so far total £4 million. Moreover, the stocks of cars owned by MG Rover had proved much smaller than expected, Mr Lomas said.

There is a possibility of a small payout if MG Rover can be sold as a going concern, but the administrators warned hundreds of small suppliers who attended meetings in Birmingham yesterday not to get their hopes up.

Mr Lomas said he was negotiating with three possible buyers, for whom the MG brand was an important attraction, but none was willing to contribute to the costs of maintaining the factory.

Iranian, Arab and Russian bidders have all expressed interest in buying the carmaker and employing about 2,000 people locally. Mr Lomas said he was preparing for a piecemeal asset sale before October, obliging any serious bidder to proceed quickly.

Prospects for the sale of Powertrain, the group's engines and transmissions business, appear brighter. Steven Pearson, another PwC administrator, said he was in discussions with a bidder that "could lead to production being resumed on a limited level".

That bidder is believed to be Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, whose decision to pull out of a joint venture deal with MG Rover triggered its collapse. Mr Pearson said: "We are sending a team to China to talk about a practical transition."

He added that he had been discussing a contract to supply engines to a vehicle maker.

Only a few hundred staff are still working at Longbridge, maintaining the site and helping the administrators.