137 jobs axed as plant is put into administration

Jul 28 2009 by Chris Knox, The Journal

TEESSIDE'S industry has suffered another blow as the Artenius chemical plant was put into administration by its Spanish parent company leading to the loss of 137 jobs.

La Seda De Barcelona, is closing the plant in Wilton, near Redcar, as part of a five-year restructuring plan which includes selling on five other sites in Europe to focus on the production of polyethylene terephthalate abroad.

Now the firm has now agreed to work with administrators Deloitte to try to sell on the site as a going concern, which would protect the remaining 105 workers as well as more than 1,000 others in its wider supply chain. Workers at the site had been given some hope after an emergency meeting was held by directors in Spain earlier this month to form a business plan that would involve saving the jobs in addition to selling off its European assets and the capitalisation of £749m of debt to safeguard its future.

But the group has decided to pull out of the North East as it looks at ways of reversing its worsening performance, which recently saw it post an annual loss of £564m.

Daniel Butters, partner at Deloitte, said: “The company is continuing to trade while we seek to identify going concern bidders. Regretfully we have been forced to announce 137 redundancies today, mostly in respect of the already closed division.”