One of the stone industry\'s perennial rumours is that Hanson Bath & Portland is being sold. Now it\'s official. John Hopkins, development director of Hanson, says they have received offers to buy the dimensional stone business.

However, he adds: "The process is on-going. The timetable is such that it\'s unlikely there will be an announcement soon."

And he emphasises: "There\'s no certainty we will sell this business. We\'re not looking for buyers at any price. We have said it\'s not absolutely core, but unless someone comes along with what we consider the right price we\'re not going to sell it."

He said the move was initiated by an approach, after which Hanson invited other parties to bid. None of the potential buyers has been named.

Employees of Hanson Bath & Portland were told of the bids in July. A Hanson spokesman said: "We didn\'t want to create a position where we say the business is up for sale and the workforce think they aren\'t wanted."

He said the business had some superb assets, one of which was the workforce, that they would not give up lightly.