Chemical company Croda to close Wirral factory with loss of 115 jobs

Apr 30 2009 by Rachel Cooper, Liverpool Daily Post

CHEMICAL giant Croda is to close its Bromborough factory with the loss of 115 jobs.

The international company, which provides speciality chemicals for a range of products including cosmetics, announced the closure at its annual meeting yesterday.

Croda, which made £1m a week in the first three months of this year, said the closure of its Wirral factory was part of the company’s ongoing review of operations.

Yesterday’s announcement was another blow for Wirral, following the recent closure of Tulip’s Bromborough meat-processing plant, with the loss of 303 jobs.

Croda’s Bromborough site contributed more than one-third of the revenues of the company’s industrial speciality chemicals division and made a profit of £2.1m last year.

But the company yesterday said the division had seen turnover fall 20% to £97.1m in the first three months of the year and that the Bromborough site had made a loss in the final quarter of 2008.

Croda chairman, Martin Flower, told shareholders that Croda was closing the Wirral site “as part of our continuing strategy to reduce our exposure to basic commodity sectors.”

Jenny Clucas, chief executive of Chemicals North West, said yesterday’s announcement had come as a surprise, despite difficult trading conditions.

She said: “It’s very sad to hear news of the site closing as it spells the end of 150 years of continuous production on that site.

“It’s also very sad for the talented and committed people who work there.”

Ms Clucas added that the recession was affecting chemical companies to varying degrees, depending on their end user market

But she stressed that yesterday’s announcement “should not send out the message that we are seeing the demise of the chemical industry”.

“We have a diverse and varied industry in the North West.

“We will come through and will benefit when the upturn comes,” she said.

Steve Niblock, Liberal Democrat councillor for Bromborough said yesterday’s announcement was “yet another blow to industry in Wirral.”

He added: “I feel very sorry for those who work there and their families.

“I will be contacting Jim Wilkies, deputy chief executive of Wirral Council, to see what we can do to assist.”

It has not yet been confirmed when the factory will close, but Croda estimate it will cost £40m to shut the factory, with production switching to other sites.