Baird left reeling by poor Christmas

POOR Christmas trading figures are fuelling fresh bid speculation at troubled clothing manufacturer William Baird, with the possibility of a second assault by major shareholder Alchemy.

Baird issued a warning last November that trading would be 'significantly below expectations'. But it is believed to have found December trading particularly bad.

It has yet to issue a trading statement, but sources say Baird's womenswear brands - Windsmoor, Planet and Precis Petite - have been hit by competition from Country Casuals and Alexon, and may have seen a like-for-like decline in sales of more than 10%.

The news of a further slowdown comes at a time when many other High Street names are reporting excellent seasonal like-for-like figures.

It is almost a year since venture capitalist Alchemy, headed by Jon Moulton, made a 75p per share bid for Baird. The deal collapsed after a dispute over the company's level of debt and Alchemy's revised offer of 65p was rejected by the board.

Baird's shares, which reached a high of 285p in 1998 before it lost a major contract to supply Marks & Spencer, closed last week at 51.5p, valuing the company at £60 million.

Alchemy was left with a 29% stake after the takeover attempt, but under City rules it cannot make another bid until the end of January.

It is thought Alchemy was interested only in the Windsmoor womenswear group and would sell off smaller divisions. Martin Bolland, a partner at Alchemy, would not be drawn on whether the venture capital group was showing renewed interest in Baird.

He said: 'We are prevented by the Takeover Code from doing anything at the moment. We haven't given it much thought, but obviously we will have to do something with our 29% stake.'

William Baird would not comment on its figures, but the company has recently tidied its portfolio of brands to focus on its main womenswear brands.

Last month, it raised £3.1 million from the sale of Dannimac rainwear to private company Signature Brands.