A deal which will bring up to 200 new jobs to Longbridge is close to being clinched by the site's owner St Modwen.

A so-far unidentified company is negotiating to use the Cofton Centre distribution complex at the former MG Rover works.

It would be the first of the developments which St Modwen said would eventually lead to more jobs than the 6,000 employed when the car maker ceased production in April last year.

Interest from composite vehicle part maker EPM Technology to bring some production to Longbridge has since floundered.

Chairman Anthony Glossop said the latest deal - which will be sealed in the next six weeks - was part of gathering momentum to redevelop Longbridge.

He said: "This is putting some reality onto our plans to create 10,000 jobs on the site in the next few years. By this time next year there will 750 to 800 jobs. People will see it not as just a piece of land, but something starting to happen.

"It will develop a momentum of its own. There is nothing worse than a lonely site."

Last week work began on the new buildings which will make up the Longbridge technology park, while Mr Glossop said he was pleased someone was agreeing to occupy one of the existing buildings on the site.

Mr Glossop said he was optimistic Rover's owner - Nanjing Automobile, which signed a 33-year lease in February - would stay beyond its six month get out clause which expires in August.

He said: "They are doing all the right things that you would expect someone to do if they were staying. Their behaviour is of a stayer rather than a leaver.

"I am optimistic they will stay beyond August."

St Modwen, which employs 50 people at its base at Quinton Business Park, is continuing to grow at a rate that will see it double in size within the next five years, the company revealed yesterday.

The firm posted an 11 per cent rise in first-half pretax profit driven by a 13 per cent increase in property disposals, and said it expected a strong second half.

Twenty-six property disposals were completed in the period with four projects contributing profits of over £1 million.

Net rental income, again including St Modwen's share of joint ventures, declined by 18 per cent from £21.2 million to £17.3 million which the group said it expected as it reflected the sales made last year and the reduced income from Longbridge.

St Modwen said pretax profit for the six months to the end of May was £43.9 million, compared to £39.6 million the year before, while revenue increased from £55.5 million to £64.6 million.

The group said its net asset value (NAV) per share, a key performance gauge for property firms, had increased by 20 per cent since May 2005 to 289.4 pence.

St. Modwen said it remained on course to grow in line with its long-term financial objective of doubling NAV every five years as investment and residential land markets remained strong.

The group said it had made net acquisitions of 220 acres in the first half and now held 7,150 acres, 4,900 of which are able to be developed.

Mr Glossop said: "These are a solid set of results. They are smack in line with what people expected and we are quite pleased."