A DECISION on the future of the Camerons Brewery appeared closer last night, whichcould see the famous Lion merging with another North-East operation.

As its owners Wolverhampton & Dudley announced bumper end of year results, the Hartlepool site appeared on the verge of a tie up with its near neighbours.

Industry insiders indicated that Camerons and Castle Eden could become one operation based in Hartlepool, unless a predatory firm steps in to snap it up.

One industry analyst said: "It would appear to be sensible that two companies in the same business next door to each other, would takeup an opportunity to become one business.

"Alternatively a larger organisation would no doubt see a business like Camerons as a very attractive proposition."

Management from W&D briefed the 150 employees at Hartlepool about the current situation with respect to a possible takeover of the Midlands-based firm.

A spokesman said: "We spoke to the Camerons workers at length yesterday and gave them as much information as we could.

"They obviously wanted to know the outcome of the review at the plant, but we were unable to give that information."

All parts of the business are believed to be up for sale, and with Camerons running close to full capacity, the future of its workforce would appear to be secure.

With Camerons appearing safe from closure, and Wolverhampton and Burton closely associated with Midlands brands Banks and Pedigree, W&D's Mansfield Brewery would appear to be at most risk.

W&D rebuffed a potential offer from private equity group Botts in August, and said last month it had begun a strategic review that could lead to its sale.

Chairman David Miller said the review was ongoing and the group would inform shareholders of its conclusions as soon as possible.

The approach from Botts was understood to have valued the business at 500p-a-share, or £472m, and it was speculated the private equity group could increase its offer to 550p-a-share or £517m.

Mr Miller added the year overall had ''certainly been eventful'', following the group's acquisition of rival Mansfield Breweries in December last year.

And he said this acquisition, together with last year's buy of Marston, had been successfully integrated, and cost savings of £32m a year achieved.

The acquisitions helped pre-tax profits for the year to September 30, stripping out goodwill amortisation and one-off costs,move up 30 per cent to £65m.

Turnover rose 44 per cent to £598.8m, although like-for-like sales, stripping out the effect of new pub openings and closures, fell 1.1 per cent against last year.

Mr Miller added trading since the beginning of October had been in line with expectations, ''despite the exceptionally wet weather''.

MD and chairman designate David Thompson refused to be drawn on whether the group had been in recent talks with Botts or when the results of the review would be made known.

Commenting on whether the possibility of a takeover had distracted staff, he said: ''It definitely adds to life's timetable''.

And speaking about the effect of the weather on business, he said the September rain had caused disruption to 65 of the group's pubs, which had been rendered inaccessible by road.Among these, 28 pubs were actually flooded, with Yorkshire being among the most affected areas.

''One has been under water for almost a month,'' Mr Thompson added. However, he said trading was still in line with plans