The Sweden-based paper and packaging company said around 130 employees at New Hythe, which produces 240,000 tonnes of testliner and fluting, would be affected by the closure, which will take place by mid-2010. Consultation has started with unions.
The corrugated business to be sold to SAICA includes 20 plants in the UK and Ireland, with annual sales of about £240m.
SCA chief executive Jan Johansson said: “The New Hythe business has been losing money and the capital investment needed to improve it is not in line with the firm’s strategy to improve profits and cashflow in its UK and Ireland business.”
The firm will retain its “value-added” packaging operations in the UK and Ireland, which also have 20 factories and a turnover of £130m. They employ around 1,400 people and produce “highly profitable” litho-printed, double-layer containers for transporting car parts and motorbikes, audio speakers and other specialist products.
SAICA is a privately owned Spanish paper and packaging company with sales of €1.6bn (£1.3bn). It operates paper mills and corrugated facilities in a number of European countries, including two corrugated box plants in the UK and one in Ireland, and has around 7,000 employees.
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