VION Announces Concentration of its Pigmeat Processing Operations

Due to increasingly competitive pressures from the marketplace, we must continually look to optimise our production facilities to ensure sound foundations for the development of our UK business.

30/04/09 VION Food Group Ltd has announced proposals to close operations at its Ashton site which processes and slices bacon products.

The combination of an increasingly competitive marketplace and significant over-capacity within parts of the UK meat sector has demanded an increased focus on operational efficiency. Following an extensive review of its UK operations, VION plans to increase the focus of its pigmeat processing plants in order to improve plant throughput and production efficiencies.

As a result of this review, VION UK is proposing to close its operation at Ashton with bacon curing being transferred to VION Malton and bacon slicing moving to VION Scunthorpe.

Commenting on this announcement, Alasdair Cox, Director of Corporate Affairs said, “Due to increasingly competitive pressures from the marketplace, we must continually look to optimise our production facilities to ensure sound foundations for the development of our UK business. The proposed changes will provide a stronger platform upon which VION can meet the demands from the market. The planned changes will be supported by additional investment in the Scunthorpe and Malton operations.

We very much regret the need for these changes in our activities announced and have informed our employees and their Union representatives of our commitment to consult with them. The commitment from the team at Ashton has never been in question.”

The company will be consulting with the affected people and their nominated representatives to explore ways of avoiding redundancies, including transfers to other sites within the company.