Premier Foods to close Birmingham bakery and distribution sites

PREMIER Foods has told the stock exchange that it is proposing to shut a bakery site and distribution centres in Birmingham as part of nationwide closures which will see 900 jobs lost.

It has a number of sites in Birmingham including a bakery and distribution site in Garretts Green. Around 500 jobs are expected to be lost in the city.

The St Albans-based firm – which owns the Hovis brand – said in a statement it is attempting to build value in its bread business and drive sustainable profitable growth through simplifying its manufacturing and distribution operations to improve efficiency, quality and service levels, so enhancing the performance of the Hovis brand.

“Proposals have been developed to close two bakery sites in Greenford and Birmingham during the course of 2013, in addition to the previously announced closure of the Eastleigh bakery, and to consolidate production from these locations into the company’s remaining bread manufacturing sites,” it said.

“In addition, it is proposed to simplify the bread distribution network by removing approximately 130 distribution routes, taking into account the reduction in volumes from the previously announced loss of a low margin bread contract by mid-2013.

“As a consequence, the Company is proposing to close distribution operations in Greenford, Birmingham, Mendlesham and Plymouth. It is also proposed to restructure the company’s outsourced logistics operations to optimise the new network. Together, these proposals are expected to result in approximately 900 fewer jobs across the company’s bread division.”

Charges associated with these proposals are expected to be approximately £28m.

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close