Humberts sale ‘being agreed’ - but no name yet

 Humberts says it has settled on a buyer after receiving several offers for the troubled agency - although it has delayed identifying the purchaser.

A spokeswoman says: “To confirm there were multiple offers ... and a sale is now being agreed to one party ...  We will be able to release the details midway through next week.”

It is understood that Humberts staff have been told that a buyer has been identified.

On Tuesday a Humberts spokeswoman told EAT that the buyer would be identified on Wednesday or Thursday of this week; however, yesterday afternoon that was deferred for a further week.

It is not known whether this represents a problem with the deal: however, Humberts yesterday evening at least ruled out some wild speculation that it was the third party agency hinted at by Sky News in its story of a possible merger between online operators Emoov and Tepilo.

In recent days the agency has made some 50 staff redundant and has been at the centre of speculation about its future; much of the industry gossip has circulated around the level of debt the company had, and the possible closures of some parts or branches of the firm.

For the moment it is thought all branches have been operating as normal, albeit with staff reductions where there have been redundancies.

Chestertons merged with Humberts in 2009 after both companies were reported to have had individual financial difficulties; they demerged in early 2014 with the two separate businesses creating limited companies under the Chesterton Global Ltd umbrella.