Paramount Foods job losses rise to 173

This takes the total number of redundancies to date to 173 across the company’s two sites: 41 at the pizza product site in Salford and 118 in Deeside, in addition to 14 salaried redundancies across the two sites.

Joint administrators Duff & Phelps were appointed when the loss of a key contract with Morrisons forced the firm into administration on October 5.

Operations were suspended while urgent discussions were held with key customers and parties that may have been interested in acquiring all or some of the business.

In a statement issued to FoodManufacture.co.uk, David Whitehouse, Partner, Duff & Phelps, said: “While customers continue to be supportive of the business, inevitably order volumes have fallen and the Company’s declining turnover cannot sustain its existing level of overheads.​

Looking for a buyer​

“Further redundancies were required at the Deeside site in order to enable continued trading in the short term while a purchaser is sought.”​

A spokeswoman for Duff & Phelps told FoodManufacture there had been some expressions of interest in the site. However, she said further details could not be confirmed until this week.

Concern for the workforce​ 

Trade union GMB expressed concern for the remaining workforce at the site. Mark Jones, regional organiser for the GMB, reportedly said there was only a short window in which to save the business, which had been looking precarious since the outset of the administration.

The company is one of the largest manufacturers of frozen and chilled pizzas in the UK and it counted some of the biggest supermarket names among its customers including Sainsbury, Asda and Tesco.

It had employed 138 people at a site in Salford, Greater Manchester and a further 312 based in Deeside, North Wales.