Young’s Seafood is to keep open two under-threat manufacturing sites in Scotland and save 250 out of 900 jobs as part of an “alternative option” plan announced today.
The future of the seafood giant’s Fraserburgh and Grantown-on-Spey plants was placed in jeopardy in June after the company lost a £100m salmon processing contract with Sainsbury’s to Norwegian company Marine Harvest.
Young’s began a staff consultation in July, with more than 900 jobs under threat after it admitted the two sites would be “significantly under-utilised” once the Sainsbury’s contract ends in November.
But the processor today (23 September) committed to retaining the two sites – albeit with a significant loss of jobs – after an “extensive review, consultation with employee representatives and engagement with all interested stakeholders”.
Young’s said its new plan involved a “multi-million pound investment” by the company and its investors.”This option has taken into account, but is not wholly dependent upon, the potential support identified by the Scottish government and other agencies during the consultation process,” it added. ”This option is not based on any offers of support from North East Lincolnshire Council as no final offer of financial assistance has yet been made by NELC.”
Under the company’s new plans, the Spey Valley site in Grantown will be retained as a traditional smokehouse, with the Fraserburgh site staying open with a reduced operation focussed on hot and cold smoked ready-to-eat products.
The manufacture of other products not affected by the Sainsbury’s contract loss will gradually transfer to alternative Young’s sites in Scotland and England by May 2016 – subject to consultation with its retail customers, with the company proposing to integrate its remaining contracts into sites at Grimsby, Livingston and Annan.
Young’s CEO Pete Ward said the processor recognised the importance of the Fraserburgh and Spey Valley factories to their local communities “and we are moving forward with a plan that will retain jobs at both of the sites”.
He told staff the decision to retain the sites but cut jobs had “not been taken lightly and we’d like to say thank you for your continued dedication and commitment to the site during this challenging time”.
The majority of redundancies are likely to take place in early 2016. The company has agreed enhanced redundancy terms for those affected with employee representatives, including help with finding alternative work.
The Grocer revealed last week that Young’s had filed a trademark application for the name Spey Valley, with an industry source stating the company was looking to commercialise the site and capitalise on its heritage as a smokehouse.
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