A ROMSEY engineering firm looks set to close because a buyer cannot be found.

Administrators were called into Budds Lane-based Cambridge Capacitors at the beginning of last month and in a bid to save the electrical components company.

But last week, 50 employees were made redundant and the remaining 30-odd staff will also go once all current orders have been completed.

A spokesperson for administrators, Ernst and Young, said this week: "Sadly, we had to make 50 people redundant last Friday and about 30 remain employed while we wind the company down. It's very unfortunate that we have not been able to find a buyer and it's very unlikely that we will find a last-minute buyer."

Cambridge Capacitors was formed in 1989 by merging Budds Lane-based RIC Ltd, which employed several hundred people, with PED Capacitors, at one time was one of Romsey largest employers.

It was also one of Britain's largest suppliers of motor and lighting capacitors and its components have been widely used in railway signalling equipment here and abroad.

Alan Josling, a former long-serving managing- director of Cambridge Capacitors, who left nine years ago, but still lives in the Test Valley area, said: "I am really sorry to hear this news.

"It is sad that jobs have been lost and that more are under threat It will be difficult for people to find similar jobs in this area and I do hope that he company can find a buyer."