Clayton Glass’s North Lanarkshire site is to close following a sale out of administration that has preserved part of the glass manufacturing business. A total of 290 staff have been made redundant across the sites closing in North Lanarkshire, County Durham and Blackburn.
James Lumb and Howard Smith of Interpath were appointed joint administrators to Clayton Glass Ltd on 18 September. They immediately sold the business and certain assets to Clayton Glass Group Limited, an entity backed by the former management team.
The deal secured 283 jobs at the company’s sites in Nottingham, Swindon, Canterbury and Dewsbury. Those employees transferred with the operations included in the sale.
The administrators said high energy and raw material costs, combined with a prolonged period of low demand, had put pressure on margins and left the company unable to meet its financial obligations. Efforts to rescue the whole business with external capital failed to produce a viable solvent solution.
Lumb, managing director at Interpath and joint administrator, said: “Clayton Glass has a proud history, having established itself at the heart of the British glass industry, and this transaction gives the business a platform to continue, secures some of its operations and, crucially, preserves a significant number of jobs.”
He added: “The economics of the industry are incredibly challenging with high and rising fixed costs and soft demand which makes good businesses like Clayton unsustainable on a normal operating base. The directors have fought hard to find a solvent solution, but regrettably not all of the business could be rescued in this market.”
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Founded in 1956, Clayton Glass employed 573 people across seven UK sites. It manufactures and supplies insulated glass units to window, conservatory, door and glazing contractors.
Interpath has a team on site supporting affected employees. That support includes helping them make representations to the Redundancy Payments Service.
