Dairy Crest is currently in the process of consolidating our butter and spreads production into our Kirkby site. This involves significant investment in the site and, regrettably, as previously announced, will lead to the closure of our Crudgington site in mid-2014.
Over recent months the butters and spreads market has been particularly difficult and we now anticipate that consolidated production volumes at Kirkby will be lower than we initially thought.
To ensure the success of the consolidation in this challenging commercial environment we have started to negotiate and consult with employees and their representatives on changes to the employee structure and current ways of working at Kirkby.
This may involve a simplification of the existing complex employee agreements and some job losses.
Should they arise we aim to keep these job losses to a minimum, and we will support any employees whose jobs do become redundant.