Administrators announce 452 job losses at Caparo
BLACK Country-based steel group, Caparo Industries is axing more than 450 jobs across its UK sites after going into administration.
In total, 452 jobs have been lost; 323 of them in the industrial heartland of the West Midlands. The sites affected are:
◾Darlaston (122)
◾Oldbury – group head office (68)
◾Dudley (64)
◾West Bromwich (59)
◾Cradley Heath (10)
In addition, 79 jobs have been lost at ◾Hartlepool, 17 at Tredegar, 12 at Wrexham and 21 elsewhere.
Steel unions have blamed cheap steel imports for the company’s financial problems, although it is not alone in feeling the pain.
Matt Hammond, PwC partner and lead administrator said: “It is with regret that we have made these decisions today, but the commercial prospects of the affected businesses render them unviable.
“We thank those former members of staff for their service to CIP; we will work closely with them, their representatives and agencies to ensure that their redundancy and other claims are handled efficiently at this difficult time.
“We will also work closely with other bodies who naturally will want to assist at this time with regard to future employment opportunities.”
He said more than 1,200 staff remained employed in CIP and they would continue to work and be paid as normal.
The locations operating on a ‘business as usual’ basis are:
Engineering Division
Accles & Pollock
Bridge Aluminium
Caparo Tube Components
Caparo Precision Tubes Oldbury
CMT Engineering
Testing Technologies
Steel Products Division
Caparo Wire
Hub Le Bas
Caparo Precision Strip
Vehicle Technologies Division
Caparo Vehicle Technologies
Clydesdale Jones
Caparo Modular Systems
Caparo Tube Components 2
Caparo Advanced Composites
Caparo Atlas Fastenings at Darlaston and Caparo Forging Europe (at Dudley and Hartlepool) have also closed with immediate effect. Also closed with immediate effect are Fairbright Wire and Caparo Tubes Tredegar.
Hammond concluded: “At this difficult time, our focus, together with the 1,200 strong CIP team, remains on keeping these businesses stable and satisfying all customers who are supporting the operations, while exploring all options and interests for the disposal of the businesses.
“We are encouraged by the interest expressed in many of the businesses and hope to make substantial progress on this during November. We would like to thank all staff for their continued commitment and we will make every effort to help the workers affected by today’s announcement.”
