OUTDOOR clothing company Barbour last night declined to comment on whether it had submitted a bid for wellington boot maker Hunter.

Barbour, in South Shields, South Tyneside, last week confirmed it had requested information from accountant KPMG, which is handling the administration of the company.

The deadline for bids for Hunter passed on Friday evening and KPMG said it had received ten offers for the business.

However, administrators said last night they could not comment on who the bids were from.

Hunter, maker of the wellingtons favoured by the Royal family and the showbusiness aristocracy, is up for sale after being put into administration before Easter.

After reducing its workforce from 112 to 64 last week, administrators from KPMG issued a deadline of last Friday for offers to take over the business.

Joint administrator Richard Fleming said: "After initial discussions with approximately 100 interested parties, we are now pleased to be in a position to examine ten offers in detail over the weekend.

"I expect discussions to progress swiftly with a view to completing a deal next week."

Although Hunter has a turnover of about £8.3m a year, KPMG said it has suffered from a high cost base and poor sales of a newly-diversified range of clothing and hats.