Jobs have been cut at a troubled online training company that has until close of business today to find a buyer.

A dozen staff have been made redundant from KnowledgePool's offices in Bond Street, Brighton, with immediate effect.

Unless a buyer for the business comes forward by 5pm, the prospects for the remaining 35 staff look bleak.

Most of those made redundant held middle-management positions while others worked on a part-time basis.

But administrators Menzies Corporate Restructuring (MCR) said it was still confident about selling the business as a whole.

Andrew Stoneman, from MCR, said: "Relunctantly, we have had to make redundancies on economic grounds.

"Otherwise it is business as usual at the Brighton office, which is continuing to serve its customers.

"From the feedback we have had already we are confident we will be able to find a buyer for KnowledgePool.

"This is not bluff. We are in advanced stages of negotiation with a number of potential buyers."

He added: "If we can not find a suitable buyer by 5pm today the outlook, unfortunately, would not look good for the remaining 35 staff.

"But we are confident we will find someone and a deal can be wrapped up sometime during next week."

The firm has struggled since the buyout of KnowledgePool from electronics giant Fujitsu in March last year.

Despite numerous attempts, the new owners have failed to raise enough equity to cover trading losses and the initial acqusition price.

KnowledgePool provides online training packages for European bluechip companies but suffered a drop in contracts last year.

Earlier this year its managing director David Welham was poached by rival Futuremedia, based in Nile Street.

It has been a dismal week for the e-learning sector in Brighton. On Tuesday, Epic, based in Old Steine, announced a 20 per cent drop in pre-tax profits.

A further 23 jobs have been lost at KnowledgePool's offices in Bracknel and Stockport.

Thursday February 05, 2004