Yorkshire Premier considers site closure

- Published: 06 January, 2012

A meat processor is to enter talks with staff following a proposal to shut down part of its Yorkshire-based operation.

The ANM Group said it would begin a consultation process with the 59 staff at its Yorkshire Premier Meat plant in Sheffield following a difficult trading period.

The company said it intended to concentrate the majority of its activities in Yorkshire Premier at its second plant in South Kirkby. If the plan goes ahead, the company said it was possible the site would shut in mid-February.

The Sheffield operation in Aston Street has been owned by the ANM Group since 1993 with the South Kirkby plant opened four years later. Yorkshire Premier specially prepares meat for the ready meals market.

In a statement, the company said: “In the event of closure, a modest tonnage carried out at Sheffield will be transferred to South Kirkby while the remaining raw material supplied to Sheffield by the ANM Group-owned Scotch Premier Meat will be processed instead at the SPM site in Inverurie, Aberdeenshire.”

It added that the company deeply regretted the closure proposal but pointed out that the level of losses being experienced at Sheffield are considered unsustainable in the current economic climate with no indication of trading patterns improving in the near future.

The statement continued: “Yorkshire Premier will now engage with affected staff to consider whether and to what extent redundancies may be avoided.”

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