Four partners from Deloitte have been called in as adminstrators for the UK divisions of Waterford Wedgwood, the stricken luxury goods company.

Angus Martin, Neville Khan, Nick Dargan and Dominic Wong are now handling the administration of the Waterford Wedgwood UK plc and certain of its UK subsidiaries.

David Carson, an insolvency specialist at Deloitte's Irish arm, was appointed the receiver of the parent company.

Joint administrator, Angus Martin said: 'We have today been appointed joint administrators of the companies and will be continuing to trade the business whilst seeking a sale as a going concern.

'We will work closely with David Sculley, CEO, and Anthony Jones, CFO, who have both played active roles in the restructuring efforts and the numerous conversations with potential investors. Waterford, Wedgwood and Royal Doulton are quintessentially classic brands that represent a high quality product which is steeped in history.

'The administration team will be working closely with management, customers and suppliers during this time to ensure operations continue whilst a sale of the business is sought.'

Waterford Wedgwood said that it had been forced to file for receivership in Ireland and administration because they could not convince its main creditors to let them keep putting off loan repayments - known as forbearance-while making efforts to shore up the company.

The company said: 'Following the expiration and non-renewal of the forbearance period, certain group companies have now been placed into receivership or will shortly be placed into administration. The continuance of the forbearance was essential to the group continuing as a going concern.'