SEVERAL potential buyers have expressed strong interest in buying ICI's Uniqema business, the company said yesterday.

ICI said plans to sell Uniqema, which employs 380 people at Wilton, Teesside, were proceeding well with a number of potential buyers expressing interest.

However, ICI said it would only sell Uniqema for the right price.

Its announcement yesterday came as ICI announced plans to cut another 2,300 jobs from its 35,000 global workforce over the next five years.

It said it would embark on extensive new restructuring and investment when an existing restructuring programme ends next year.

ICI, which employs 5,000 people in the UK, did not give details of where it intended to make the job cuts, but said it would look to integrate many of its human resource and finance activities, seek manufacturing plant improvements and achieve general efficiencies at its National Starch, ICI Paints and Quest divisions.

The economic downturn has forced the company to cut jobs in recent years, including 1,400 posts in 2003 as part of moves to save £70m.

But ICI has shown signs of revival, with first quarter results from the company today showing profits rose eight per cent to £91m, with group sales ahead nine per cent on a year ago at £1.48bn.

The proposed strategy from ICI - set to run from 2007 and 2011 - will see ICI invest in product technology and its brands, as well as achieve £170m of additional cost savings a year.

The company put its Uniqema division, which makes ingredients for products including lipstick, suncream and paint, on the market earlier this year.

ICI once employed more than 30,000 people in Teesside, but it has only about 500 staff left in the region.