TWO hundred aerospace workers are celebrating after their company was bought from receivers in a £2.5million deal.

Pendle Aerospace has been taken over by L Gardner Group, the largest supplier to the industry, following months of uncertainty which came to a head when administrative receivers were called in earlier this week.

Three wholly-owned subsidiaries have completed the purchase of the business and assets of Pendle Aeroform, Pendle Precision and Rigby Tooling.

The deal involves £1.7m paid in cash at completion followed by a deferred cash payment of £800,000, payable in eight equal monthly instalments.

Steve Ward, managing director at the firm's Hargher Clough works in Burnley, said: "We have been fortunate enough to have been purchased by the Gardner Group, the largest supplier to the aerospace industry in the UK.

"It is terrific news, it is a great day for us."

Mr Ward said that in the longer term it could lead to more jobs being created locally. "It is a matter of great celebration, it is tremendous news." he said.

Pendle Aerospace supplies a range of precision manufactured components to a number of companies including British Aerospace, Shorts, Boeing and Hurel Dubois.

The manufacturing operations of Pendle Aerospace are carried out in a 200,000 sq ft facility in Burnley. Pendle Aeroform, Pendle Precision and Rigby Tooling also have empty offices in Lomeshaye Industrial Estate, Nelson.

A spokesman for Gardner said the acquisition of the Pendle Aerospace division increased the group's penetration into its existing customer base and added additional processing capabilities in the manufacture of airframe components.

He said it also provided Gardner with significant additional manufacturing capacity, including large assembly capability.

Pendle Aerospace's unaudited loss before tax for the year ended 31 March 2000 was £114,000 on turnover of £11.23m.

Unaudited management accounts for the three months ended 30 June 2000 indicate a loss before tax of £95,000 on turnover of £2.31m and assets of £3.76m.