Budlepack COSi fails to find buyer and confirms job cuts

By Guy Montague-Jones

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Cosmetics

Attempts to find a buyer for the Budlepack COSi plant in Maesteg, South Wales, which went into administration at the end of November, have proved unsuccessful.

The failure to find an interested buyer means that all but 23 of the remaining employees will be out of work on Friday, according to BBC reports.

A total of 263 workers will lose their jobs when the factory closes. They will receive no redundancy pay outs because they were re-employed by Budlepack COSi on specific contract terms when Budelpack took over the company in November 2007.

Budelpack acquired a 70 per cent share in the ailing contract manufacturer, which bought it back from the brink of financial disaster and imminent closure.

Sharp drop in sales seals factory's fate

However, difficult economic conditions in the UK and all over the rest of Europe plunged the business back into crisis. Netherlands-based Budelpack blamed a 25 per cent drop in sales for the closure, stating that the business was no longer viable and that the resulting job losses were unavoidable.

The first signs of trouble came at the end of October when Budelpack COSi axed 231 jobs at the facility – 81 of which were permanent staff, the remainder being agency staff.

Netherlands-based Budelpack is a contract manufacturer and packer for the personal care and home care industries generating an annual turnover of €330m, while Budelpack COSi recorded sales of €105m in 2006.

Seeds of difficulty

COSi originally bought up the Maestag facility from Revlon in 2001 with the intention of doubling its sales turnover within the space of three years, an objective it did not manage to achieve, despite considerable investment.

Budelpack is not the only cosmetics company to be struggling in Wales. L’Oreal also announced in October that 200 jobs would go at its Talbot Green factory.

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