Ambitious Keighley businessman Alan Rees has mounted a rescue bid to help save one of the country's biggest regional double-glazing firms - and at the same time double the size of his own company.

Mr Rees, 45, whose Worth Systems in Keighley and Quickframe Windows at Leeds employ 100 people, is now negotiating the purchase of Peterborough-based Posh Windows. If successful it will give him a foothold in the South, as well as opening up expansion opportunities in Keighley.

Mr Rees, who is one of Posh Windows' biggest suppliers, made an offer for the cash-strapped group of 12 companies after NatWest Bank sent in accountants to assess its chances of survival.

He brought in insolvency expert Peter O'Hara - who is administrator at Keighley Cougars - and a little-used procedure enabled him to have O'Hara appointed administrator, after Leeds High Court found the business would have a reasonable chance of survival under Mr Rees's ownership.

Mr O'Hara will report to creditors in the next three months on the company's prospects, but in the meantime Mr Rees has guaranteed all customers' deposits - around £100,000.

He says his own financial interests would have been affected badly had Posh Windows been allowed to collapse, as he is one of their biggest suppliers.

"About 10 per cent of Worth Systems' production goes there. We would have lost valuable on-going trade.

It was in a very precarious position," he says.

"But I think we will pull it out of the mire. We are spending a lot of time down in Peterborough working things out," he says.

"We have shed about 30 jobs but there are still more than 100 employees. We have re-structured systems and tightened things up, which will make a vast difference."

Mr Rees and his wife Christine are joint directors of Worth Systems, which they started as Keighley Glass in 1985. The thriving company - which has seen £2 million investment in the last three years - now specialises in extruded window systems, which it distributes internationally. Last week a £50,000 order was sent to Bangladesh as part of an on-going contract.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.