More than 400 jobs could return to Findus factory

Aug 12 2009 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

MORE than 400 jobs could return to Tyneside as a food factory looks for Government cash to help it reopen.

Bosses at the fire-damaged Longbenton Findus food factory have won the backing of the regional minister in their bid to secure up to £20m in grants and tax relief to help rebuild.

They are in a race against time to ensure they can be up and running by Christmas, in order to guarantee a chance of winning contracts from frozen food producers.

A bid will now go before Lord Mandelson’s Department of Business, Innovation and Skills to secure the funds needed to bring the factory up to strict health and safety standards.

Hundreds of workers lost their jobs when former owners Newcastle Productions went into administration days after a fire ripped through the Tyneside factory in January.

Since then the company’s assets have been sold for just over £3m to two businesses, Smart Properties and Factory Leasing. Administrators for the company reached an agreement with the factory’s insurers to pay out £5.35m, but before factory bosses could start spending the cash it was immediately used to pay off debts.

This has left the factory’s new owners with a clean-up bill likely to cost up to £20m and little way of securing the full amount themselves.

Although many parts of the site were not damaged by the fire, the damage from soot and smoke has led to an expensive refurbishment bill.

Factory boss Vidar Engen said he could not guarantee the former workforce there would be a job for them come Christmas, but said he was doing everything he could to work with a “Findus taskforce” to bring jobs back.

He said: “Nothing is straightforward here, and I don’t want to raise anyone’s hopes unduly. We are getting calls every day from people who used to work here asking if we will be reopening.

“It is a jigsaw right now, we are slowly getting towards a position where we can try to reopen, but it will take a lot of support.

“The insurance payout has not gone towards the cost of rebuilding, so we still face the cost of repairing the fire damage, and that is far from cheap.

“We have a mountain to climb but everyone involved is doing all they can to help us reach our aim. We would love to see pancakes and other frozen foods once again produced here.”

:: Click here to see video footage from inside the factory after the fire