Food firm's administration sees 250 jobs lost

Tillery Valley Foods employed hundreds of workers

A food firm has gone into administration with the loss of hundreds of jobs.

Tillery Valley Foods, in Abertillery, Blaenau Gwent, employed 250 staff. Administrators said 24 would be kept on to help with the closure.

The company supplied goods to the healthcare, education and local authority sectors.

Stephen Bolton of Tillery Valley owners Joubere said he was "heartbroken" for staff and for the town of Abertillery.

He said he was "deeply sorry" at the failure to save the business, adding: "We bought the business 20 months ago and walked straight into the teeth of the energy crisis.

"In our first year of ownership, we were hit by £2m of energy cost increases across gas electricity and fuel which put enormous pressure on the business.

"Added to this, the last nine months of inflationary increases in the cost of ingredients and packaging materials have proven too much for the business."

Director of joint-administrator Interpath Advisory, Tim Bateson, called it a "tremendously sad day".

Some staff were said to have been with the business for more than 30 years

Economy Minister Vaughan Gething said: "We were approached by the company towards the end of last year and we sought to help the company but we weren't in a position where we got timely information on that company to be able to help them.

"We do think that there is potentially a viable business there, there's a company of some scale that could be run.

"But we need to understand with clarity who owns the different assets in the business, whether we can maintain the contracts that business has been fulfilling up to now.

The Welsh government said it was "major blow for such a dedicated workforce".

Labour's Blaenau Gwent Member of the Senedd Alun Davies tweeted that the news was "devastating" and called for ministers to set up a taskforce to help workers who had lost their jobs.

Community's Wales regional secretary Rob Edwards said the union was "working tirelessly" to support its members.

Mr Bateson said some employees had been with the company for more than 30 years.

“Our immediate priority will be to provide support to all those who have been made redundant," he added.