WORKERS at a major Sussex holiday firm fear their jobs may be at risk after a take-over bid by a rival company.

The 700 staff of Crawley-based First Choice learned yesterday that Manchester firm Airtours has launched an £852 million bid for the company.

Workers arriving at the London Road offices in Crawley today said they were worried but would wait and see what developments were taking place.

Administration assistant Paul Mercer said: "Things are up in the air at the moment and there are a lot of rumours going around.

"If the bid is successful, there will be a lot of jobs that will double up and so some will have to go."

Another worker said: "Everyone is very uncertain but we will just have to wait and see what happens."

The Argus revealed last month that First Choice had already agreed to a £1.4 billion merger with Swiss company Kuoni Travel.

The First Choice Board was today urging shareholders to resist the bid by Airtours and continue to establish their commitment to Kuoni.

First Choice chairman Ian Clubb said there was a strong indication that the Airtours proposals would be blocked by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission because of the size of both companies involved.

He said: "The situation is riddled with uncertainty and we are advising caution. Shareholders should take no action until the position clarifies."

First Choice employs 500 staff at its Crawley offices and a further 200 elsewhere in Sussex.

Last year it took over Haywards Heath holiday company Unijet and a year before that, it absorbed Skibound in Brighton.

It also owns charter airline Air 2000 and Viking Aviation, one of the UK's leading airline seat brokers.

The First Choice group unveiled profits last year which had more than tripled to £50 million from £15.4 million.

The Airtours bid values the company at 229p a share, beating TURN TO PAGE 5

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