ONE hundred and sixty jobs have been lost at one of Britain's leading manufacturers of holiday homes after it filed for administration.Omar Homes now has just 40 staff at its Brandon headquarters and five at a smaller site at Milton Keynes.

ONE hundred and sixty jobs have been lost at one of Britain's leading manufacturers of holiday homes after it filed for administration.

Omar Homes now has just 40 staff at its Brandon headquarters and five at a smaller site at Milton Keynes.

Yesterday, administrators Tenon Recovery said Omar had been unable to pay creditors and blamed the current economic crisis.

But Tenon said it was hopeful of finding a buyer for the business, until now one of Brandon's biggest employers.

“As a result of the current economic crisis, the directors at Omar Homes, a park home, lodge and holiday home manufacturer, have placed the company into administration,” Tenon said.

“Omar Homes was unable to satisfy the demands of creditors and, following advice that urgent protection must be sought, placed an administration order in the High Court.”

The job losses at Omar Homes are the latest blow for Brandon, which saw the closure of Milbank Floors' operation in the town last year and redundancies at concrete manufacturer Lignacite.

Tenon's Jeremy Woodside added: “We propose to continue to trade, albeit on a smaller scale, while seeking a buyer, thereby potentially preserving local jobs.

“We have had a number of serious enquiries and are hopeful of a sale in the coming weeks."

A supplier, who did not want to be named, said his small family firm was owed �11,000 by the firm and that he suspected there were many others like him. Suppliers were being invited around the site to take away stock, he added.

Last month the firm revealed that it needed a substantial injection of new funding, despite having a strong order book up to April and having increased market share during the downturn.

Since August last year, about 100 staff have been lost at the firm's Brandon headquarters, leaving it with about 160 employees before Monday. It recently also closed its Northampton operation.

In February managing director Peter Wortley said the industry as a whole was faced with the twin blow of seeing the withdrawal of credit facilities for customers and credit insurance for suppliers.

He said they were trying to restructure the business to generate funding for working capital.

Omar has been trading since 1965 and generated an annual turnover of about �45million.