Industrial distributor Unidare has agreed to sell its last remaining business, UK-based Eland Cables, for £4 million (€5.9 million) as it prepares to wind up the 58-year-old company.

Unidare will sell Eland, a distributor of electrical cables to rail, telecom and electrical companies, to the English company's senior management.

The proposed sale follows Unidare's agreed disposal last month of ORS Nasco, its US wholesale distribution business, for $81 million and the sale in July of its Dutch heating business.

Unidare said in November it was considering selling Eland and would seek shareholder approval to wind up the company and distribute remaining assets to shareholders if the disposal of both Eland and ORS Nasco went ahead. The Irish distributor will hold an extraordinary general meeting next Monday.

Unidare plans to return to shareholders any proceeds from the Eland transaction. The sale price, which compares to a book value of £3.3 million, implies a per-share price of about 30 cent, according to Mark Hannon, an analyst at Davy Stockbrokers.

Including Unidare's cash reserves and wind-up costs, the per-share value is 49 cent, Mr Hannon said.

Unidare has already outlined plans to return €2.60 a share from the proceeds of the ORS Nasco sale to shareholders, and gave €2.40 per share back to investors after the disposal of its Dutch operation. The company's largest shareholder is Dermot Desmond.

Shares of Unidare dropped 14 cent, or 4.8 per cent, to €2.80 yesterday.

"When one looks at where the share price languished back in 2003 at 100 cent, management has done a commendable job in crystallising the value of each business in isolation, resulting in a sixfold increase in the share price over the subsequent period," Mr Hannon said.

Disposal is conditional on approval by Unidare shareholders and on no material adverse change at Eland between the signing of the agreement and completion, Unidare said. Eland posted pretax profit of €1 million on sales of €22.9 million in the year to the end of September.

Unidare chairman Jack Hayes and finance director Kevin Gallen stand to gain £83,333 and £41,667 respectively if the Eland transaction is completed.

The proposed winding-up of Unidare follows a chequered history that included a string of profit warnings during the 1990s.