2 Sisters Food Group has announced it is planning to close its Essex poultry processing plant at Witham as part of its strategy to turn around the business.
The company said it wanted reduce the number of its UK Poultry sites in order to produce shorter, more efficient supply chains and make it more competitive.
Ronald Kers, chief executive said: “Our stated strategy is to become the number one poultry plus business in Europe and for several months now we have been engaged in a strategic review to facilitate our delivery on this, focussed on improving execution, reducing cost and building a better organisational culture.
Ronald Kers, chief executive said: “Our stated strategy is to become the number one poultry plus business in Europe and for several months now we have been engaged in a strategic review to facilitate our delivery on this, focussed on improving execution, reducing cost and building a better organisational culture.
“But there is now a pressing need to accelerate our turnaround so we can further increase the performance of our business. That’s why we’re keen to invest where we see potential growth: our UK Poultry business will benefit from this further investment.”
As part of an ongoing review of the company’s loss-making sites, the company is proposing the potential closure of its UK Poultry business’ Witham processing site in Essex. Consultation has started and will explore all possibilities including redeploying Witham colleagues to other sites in the wider Group.
Kers said: “We’re all acutely aware that some of our plans, such as reducing our UK poultry footprint, brings uncertainty for colleagues, and it is with regret that we have to make such proposals. But the alternative of doing nothing and hoping for an upturn is not an option.”
The company has previously announced plans to make early repayment of the £250m of its Bonds due to mature in July 2019 and has today given notice that the final payment of £60m required to effect this repayment will be made on 31 May. Kers said: “This repayment of the 2019 Bonds, in accordance with the milestones previously communicated, is a significant step forward in the transformation of our business.”