Farmers First leases out Wrexham abattoir amid restructure

Farmer-owned co-operative Farmers First has announced plans to restructure its business operations due to “ongoing challenging trading conditions”.

The major lamb processor is due to cease operations at its abattoir near Wrexham in North Wales and lease out the site to Scottish meat processor Millers of Speyside from 16 February.

However, the firm says this may still be subject to change.

See also: ABP confirms more than 330 jobs at risk in Northern Ireland

A statement released by Farmers First said: “Farmers Fresh Wales will continue to maintain a presence within the marketplace, with agreed capacity at the Wrexham site enabling lamb processing throughout the year.

“The business remains committed to working with its long-standing and valued customers across Britain, Europe and beyond.”

Employees at the Wrexham site were informed of the decision on 30 January and are due to be transferred across to the new leaseholders under Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment (TUPE) regulations.

Ownership of the Wrexham site will still be retained by Farmers First and the co-operative will have the option to return to full-time operations at the site if trading conditions improve.

Kenilworth site ‘unaffected’

Wayne Lammas, managing director at Farmers Fresh, told Farmers Weekly that operations at its Kenilworth site in Warwickshire would not be affected.

Mr Lammas said the co-operative had a lot of farmer shareholders and the changes were necessary to improve operational efficiency, increase competitiveness, and position the business for long-term sustainability.

He added that lamb throughputs at Kenilworth would increase as a result of the restructure and overall throughputs for the wider group would only be reduced very slightly.