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95 jobs go at CPC as administrator blames collapse on materials costs

Administrators for CPC Packaging UK have made 95 redundancies after their appointment on Wednesday evening and have blamed ever-rising raw materials costs for the firm's collapse.

Grant Thornton UK confirmed on Thursday afternoon (26 August) that Alastair Wardell and Daniel Smith had been appointed as administrators to the business the previous evening.

Their first move has been to lay off 95 staff, primarily at CPC's King's Lynn site. It also runs a facility in Bristol, where some work in progress is still being completed.

Staff were sent home from the two sites on Monday and Tuesday.

In a statement, Wardell said: ""The administrators and their team need to quickly ascertain whether there is a possibility that some or all of the business can be sold.

"The Bristol site will continue production in the short term to satisfy customer demands whilst purchasers for the business are sought.

"Unfortunately, some 95 of the workforce have been made redundant, primarily at the King's Lynn site and therefore this will be marketed as a turnkey operation."

High prices, fire, finance
The statement from Grant Thornton, which was published after Packaging News linked it to CPC yesterday morning, said that the administration had come after a "difficult period" for the business.

It had particularly suffered, the statement said, from the high raw materials costs that have plagued much of the industry over the past year.

A fire at the King's Lynn site last December also contributed to problems at the business, Grant Thornton said.