A NATIONAL company stands ready to step in and recruit some of the staff working for a Scarborough-based sign company, which is being wound up.

Forge The Signmakers, which had contracts with Castrol Oil and BP petrol stations, is being wound up, after creditors rejected revisions to an arrangement for repaying the company's debts at a meeting in Scarborough's Mayfield Hotel on March 12.

Steve Martin, managing director of Xmo Strata, a new Kent-based sign installation company, and himself a former director of Forge, says his firm is willing to interview any sign installers and technicians from Forge who now find themselves without a job. He believes that up to 50 Forge jobs were affected.

Xmo Strata employs installation teams across the UK, and Mr Martin says ex-Forge installers would "not necessarily" have to relocate if they were successful in winning a position.

He said: "We already have outposts in Nottingham, Kent and Scotland. I don't rule out setting up one in North Yorkshire depending on the numbers we take on and the logistics. We'll be looking at the outcome carefully."

Xmo Strata has been in existence for 12 months and has won major contracts by word of mouth and through business contacts.

Any of the Forge staff who do win jobs with the company may have to undertake extra training, because Xmo Strata's minimum qualifications level is higher than that applied by Forge.

Updated: 10:00 Wednesday, March 31, 2004