Weetabix packaging subsidiary Vibixa to close

By Jenny Eagle

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Employment Burton latimer

Weetabix packaging subsidiary Vibixa to close
Weetabix carton printing subsidiary Vibixa, which makes cardboard packaging in Cheltenham, UK, has announced plans to close its factory next year axing 105 jobs.

The six-acre plant prints a range of cereal and retail-ready packaging and produces around 6.7m cartons a week.

Run down of production

Vibixa regrets to announce the firm will close with the loss of 105 jobs​,” a company spokesman told FoodProductionDaily.com.

The proposal will require a managed run down of production that will complete early next year​.

This has been a difficult decision and we appreciate it affects all of our people and their families​.

The management team is working with its employees, their trade unions and local employment agencies to assist our colleagues in finding new roles​.”

Vibixa produces packaging for Weetabix own brands, including Weetabix, Oatabix, Alpen and Ready Brek, and third parties such as Honey Monster Puffs and own-brand cereal packs for Tesco and Waitrose.

Sales down 6.2%

The plant reportedly runs two Manroland sheetfed presses and three large-format Bobst cutting and creasing lines.

According to the firm’s financial reports last year, sales were down 6.2% to £17.5m, and pre-tax profits fell to 47.8% (£856k).

In April this year, Weetabix announced plans to cut employees’ pay and hours after sales failed to meet expectations in the breakfast cereals market. It employs around 2,000 staff.

At the time, the firm said staff and unions were discussing potential changes to both pay and shifts and confirmed ‘it needed to adapt to meet the changing needs of today's modern families’.

The company, which  owns the Alpen, Ready Brek and Weetos brands, employs 1,800 workers in Burton Latimer and Corby in Northamptonshire, the same site as it was founded in the UK In 1932.

Aside from Vibixa, it has a smaller site in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire.

Weetabix’s ultimate parent company is Bright Food (Group), a company incorporated in the People’s Republic of China. It acquired a 60% majority stake in the business two years ago.

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