Cosalt offer 'is aimed at saving company'

Carphone Warehouse co-founder David Ross yesterday wrote to shareholders in ailing marine safety firm Cosalt to insist his 0.1p-a-share offer was not a "bargain basement of a price".

His offer values the firm at just £400,000.

Ross, whose family has been involved in Cosalt for three generations, has committed to invest an extra £5 million to take the company private.

"The whole company's future is at stake and its options are extremely limited," Ross said.

He warned that without his investment Cosalt will be unlikely to survive as a going concern. Shareholders must decide by20 December whether toaccept his offer.