French scent Yardley opportunity

LVMH, the French luxury goods group headed by Bernard Arnault, is one of nearly 70 parties who have expressed an interest in buying Yardley from the receivers, it emerged over the weekend.

The English perfume company with a 200-year history went bust last week with debts of pounds 120m.

The joint receivers, Tony Thompson and Roger Oldfield of accountants KPMG, are searching for someone to buy Yardley as a going concern.

A spokesman for KPMG said yesterday: "We are unable to confirm individual names of people who have have contacted us, but we can say that there has been very strong interest in Yardley so far, which is very encouraging as it is still early days."