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Council expects payback from administration felled company

NORTHUMBERLAND County Council is hoping to receive the £250,000 cash injection it put into Northumberland Foods after the firm restarted its production.

The firm’s new owner Longbenton Foods confirmed that production had restarted at Northumberland’s Amble site, and that 70 former staff had been re-employed.

250 jobs were lost this August at Northumberland’s facility in Amble, when the company went into administration citing financial difficulties; this followed a management buy-out of the firm that prevented its closure in February 2009.

Funding for the buy-out was provided by regional development agency One North East and Northumberland County Council; the former provided £3.4m while the council provided £250,000 last summer as a secured loan.

Longbenton Foods said that supply contracts had been signed with local producers, while the firm hoped production lines at Northumberland would be running at maximum capacity by Christmas.

Before it hit difficulties, Northumberland Foods made frozen vegetable products for clients including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Iceland.

Longbenton Foods employs more than 100 people at the former Findus frozen food plant in Newcastle.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .