Unilever to axe 600 jobs at frozen food factory

LONDON (AFP) - Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch consumer products giant, is to close a frozen-food plant in Grimsby, northern England, next year with the loss of 600 jobs, a spokesman said.
The decision to shut the Birds Eye factory follows a one-year review by the company into its British frozen foods business, during which it looked at four options including increased investment and a sale.
"We pursued the sale option in particular pretty vigorously but it just didn't work out," the spokesman said.
He said production of frozen meals would be outsourced to a third party.
The group said the plant, which employs mostly part-time workers, was likely to shut during the first quarter of 2005.
Production of potato-based Birds Eye products at Lowestoft, eastern England, which also came under review, will continue.
Unilever said it had considered selling the Lowestoft operation, which employs 750 staff, but had decided to continue to run it itself.
The group employs about 2,700 people in Britain making Birds Eye products.