Jobs safe in Terra merger move

Sep 25 2007 Evening Gazette

JOB assurances were given today after a chemical firm with bases on Teesside announced a major restructuring.

Ammonium nitrate producer Terra Industries and compound fertiliser firm Kemira GrowHow Oyj have merged to create a new company, GrowHow UK Ltd.

But while it should be business as usual for Terra’s Billingham manufacturing plant Terra Nitrogen, with 200 employees, the Terra UK head office in Teesdale will close.

The new company’s head office will be at Ince, Cheshire.

Terra UK has 48 staff at its Teesdale office - 42 office based staff and a six-strong outside sales team.

The jobs at Teesdale include accounting, finance, a senior management role and customer services.

GrowHow UK says that “where possible, alternative vacancies will be sought for those employees who are at risk of redundancy.”

A 30-day consultation period got underway on Friday.

Account manager Jacqui Reed said it was too early to say whether any compulsory redundancies would be needed at Teesdale.

But she stressed that Billingham - the largest of the new firm’s three plants - would “continue to run as normal and maximise production.”

Final approval for the joint venture was given by the UK Competition Commission on September 14.

GrowHow UK’s new chief Executive Officer is Paul Thompson, a chartered engineer who has worked in varied roles within ICI and Terra.

The new firm’s manufacturing director, Ashraf Malik, adds the Kemira GrowHow site at Ince to his responsibilities for plants at Billingham and Severnside in Bristol.

The company will be the largest producer of ammonia, nitric acid, CO2, ammonium nitrate and compound fertilisers in the UK.