Chilled food group Uniq today announced it planned to close a factory in Devon, transferring production to its Minsterley base. About 390 jobs could be lost at the Paignton site.
But not all of those posts will be re-created in Shropshire, the company said.
Uniq has begun a consultation process over the plan to shut Riviera Desserts in Devon following a board meeting yesterday.
The proposed move comes after a review of Uniq’s loss-making desserts business, including the St Ivel factory in Minsterley which is still struggling to make money despite a group pre-tax profit of £1.9 million announced last month.
Uniq said it expected the reorganisation to take around 18 months to implement and cost in the region of £20 million.
It said the reorganisation of its Minsterley site had created an efficient site better able to cope with the transfer of production from Paignton.
The company said today: “While this move is expected to create some new jobs at St Ivel, the full details of the transfer have not yet been confirmed and it is therefore too early to predict exactly how many.”
Uniq has invested £36 million in upgrading the Minsterley factory, which makes desserts for Marks & Spencer and employs 600 people.
A review by M&S of its supplier base has just confirmed the retailer’s commitment to Uniq’s other dessert site in Somerset and to Minsterley. Uniq said it expected an increase in desserts business as a result of the M&S review.
One Comment
That’s bad knews for the working people of Devon.