The owner of a historic Dundee factory is making a desperate attempt to reduce energy costs to save the firm from closure.
The Courier revealed on Tuesday that Bonar Yarns is on the brink of closure, just weeks after being acquired by new owners.
Based at Caldrum Works in St Salvador Street, the firm can trace its roots in the city back more than 100 years. It has a workforce of almost 60 staff.
Workers were told last Friday that the business, which specialises in carpet backing, would close.
Bonar Yarns energy bills
Unite the union initially hit out at new owner, Newman Yarns, for treating its workers “disgracefully”.
But it is now working with company bosses in a campaign to reduce crippling energy costs.
It is understood the factory’s energy bill is in the region of £300,000 a month. Unite describes this figure as “unsustainable”.
It is now campaigning for a preferential rate on the energy to keep the company alive.
Dougie Orchardson, Unite industrial officer, said: “Unite is talking regularly to the management at Bonar and we recognise that they are being forced into an unsustainable position by the greed of energy companies.
“Unite is working hand-in-hand with Bonar management to help them find a realistic rate for their energy.
“We 100% share their goal of keeping the plant open and keeping great people employed in good jobs in Dundee.”
Bonar Yarns history
Bonar Yarns can trace its history back to the foundation in 1903 of the famous Low & Bonar business that specialised in the manufacture of technical textiles.
In May 2020, Low & Bonar was delisted from the London Stock Exchange after a £107 million sale to German firm Freudenberg.
The Dundee management team completed a deal to purchase the Bonar Yarns division.
On April 3, the company announced “unsustainable cash flow issues” when it went into administration.
Two weeks later it was sold to Newman Yarns Limited, a new business created by John Newman, owner of Elite Turf USA, a leading distributor and installer of synthetic sports turf. Elite Turf USA was previously a customer of Bonar Yarns.
Mr Orchardson added: “There is hundreds of years of experience in that plant. It makes world-class products and there remains a viable business.
“Energy companies should not be forcing companies to close simply by making up tariffs as they go along and taking a short-sighted view that ignores that they lose as well if that plant closes.
“The biggest losers here will be the workers at Bonar. They are facing uncertain futures through no fault of their own, having just come out of one period of administration.”
Accounts for the year to November 30 2022, show Bonar Yarns sales of £6.8m. It also made a pre-tax profit of £107,000.
Newman Yarns has not responded to requests to comment.
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