THE fate of struggling Liverpool brewer Cains will be decided by its bankers within the next 48 hours.

A decision about whether to continue funding Cains’ debts will be made “in the next day or so”, according to chief executive Sudarghara Dusanj, one of the brewery’s owners.

Mr Dusanj said the workforce was behind the management and was showing the spirit of its founder.

“We have had some fantastic support from our workforce and I do believe it’s the spirit of Robert Cain, it’s a fighting spirit,” he said.

Cains Beer Company has been in talks with its bankers about its £35m debts since at least April, when the company said it was in ongoing negotiations. Since then, its trading losses have deepened according to its latest accounts published yesterday.

Last week the Daily Post revealed that HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) had placed a winding-up order on the firm for unpaid tax.

A schedule to repay the outstanding tax liability has now been agreed between the brewer and Customs.

But Cains has not yet secured its bank’s agreement to fund the arrangement. The company, while confident, accepts there is “no guarantee” this will happen.

A decision by executives at Bank of Scotland is imminent. If the bankers reject the plan, Cains would have until a High Court hearing scheduled for August 12 to save the company.

The Stanhope Street brewer’s shares plunged 57% after it announced six-month losses to April 28 of £4.6m while admitting the figures “may cast significant doubt on the group’s ability to continue as a going concern”.

The figures, revealed in six month trading results published to the stockmarket, showed a significant deterioration in the company’s performance since it recorded losses of £2.8m in the 14 months to October 2007.

The brewer now says full-year losses will be “higher than expected”.

Cains chief executive Sudarghara Dusanj, who took over the brewer in 2002 with his brother Ajmail, was yesterday putting a brave face on the company’s predicament.

Mr Dusanj said a plan has been submitted to BoS and he expects to hear back from them “within the next day or so”.

He added: “With the support from our stakeholders and hopefully with the backing of our bankers, we believe there is a great future for Cains to be brewing in Liverpool with an estate of 100 pubs.

“The key is to ensure the bankers support our business model and that we have a plan to turn it round.

“Hopefully, Bank of Scotland will agree with the numbers and take a longer-term view than a short-term view. They advertise themselves as the bank for entrepreneurs, let’s hope they are.

“We hope to hear from them very, very soon.”

Mr Dusanj called on the city to support the brewer, which was founded in the city by Robert Cain in 1850.

He said: “We need Liverpool’s support to help us make Cains into a nationwide brand we can be proud of. We have had some fantastic support from our workforce and I do believe it’s the spirit of Robert Cain, it’s a fighting spirit. We have a business model everyone believes in and the company can become a great Merseyside success story by get- ting through challenging times.”

Despite the grim trading statement and the continuing gloom in the UK economy, Mr Dusanj remains optimistic.

“We can get through this,” he said. “We never said it would be easy. Me and Ajmail are extremely passionate about the business and we’ll make it through the challenging times. We don’t see a day when we would walk away.”

The firm has been handicapped by its £37m reverse takeover of Honeycombe Leisure in May 2007, which saw Cains acquire 92 pubs and a listing on the Alternative Investment Market.

The Bank of Scotland provided £40m, of which £30m was a loan facility, £5m in working capital and £5m to fund refurbishment of the pubs. The firm’s latest balance sheet shows that £35m of debt remains on the company’s books.

Mr Dusanj accepts that Cains is now being hampered by the cost of servicing the interest on this debt. Interest amounted to £1.2m for the six month period, compared with just £66,000 a year ago.

“We are working to turn it around but we do appreciate we are overgeared,” he said. “It’s a big burden to the business.”

Cains took on the debt to buy 92 pubs from Honeycombe Leisure last year, but the pub sector has been hit by falling revenues – which the company blamed on declining consumer confidence and the effect of the smoking ban – and rising costs.

Pub sales fell 15% during the half-year and has continued to trade below last year although Mr Dusanj said its retail sales are stabilising.

“I think the acquisition of Honeycombe Leisure was always heavily geared,” he said. “However the plans we have, of putting the companies together, will provide a very robust model.

“It’s been successfully done by breweries in Manchester, such as Thwaites, Robinsons and others. The model is robust, it’s just the timing has been against the company.”

The company’s finance director, Paul Morgan, who joined the company in May, resigned with immediate effect yesterday.

Cains’ brewery division, which produces own-label beers along- side Cains-branded products, saw like-for-like sales fall 15% during the six months’ trading, although it said the trend had reversed in the 12 weeks since.

Last night Cains shares fell to an all-time lowest closing price of 2.88p.