Owner describes Waterford plant as ‘a dinosaur’

THE co-founder of the company which now owns troubled Waterford Wedgwood has described the Waterford factory as “a dinosaur manufacturing plant”.

Michael Psaros, co-founder of KPS Capital Partners, made the comments in the Financial Times while outlining his future plans for the company.

The news comes after the receiver of Waterford Wedgwood Plc and the Joint Administrators of Waterford Wedgwood UK Plc yesterday confirmed the sale of both the Irish and the British businesses.

The new owners, KPS Capital Partners LP, a New York-based private equity limited partnership, under which WWRD Holdings Ltd, a company newly formed by KPS, has acquired certain Irish and British assets of Waterford Wedgwood and the assets of several of its Irish and British subsidiaries.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Mr Psaros said he planned to invest e100 million in the company and use the brand as a platform for acquisitions by cutting costs and transferring production of almost all products overseas. Although 173 out of the 480 staff in Ireland will continue to work at the company, they will be employed by the receivers and not the new owners, the Financial Times reported.

Similarly, Waterford Wedgwood’s estimated e800m in debts and its pension liabilities will remain in receivership.

About 80 of the retained jobs are believed to be “skilled artisans” with up to 35 other full-time and 50 part-time workers would be retained. The jobs will be in place over a six-month period, before being reviewed.

KPS offered e10m to workers in lieu of ex-gratia payments, while this is to be divided among more than 800 workers and ex-workers. About 90% of Waterford Crystal workers at a meeting in the city on Sunday voted to back the package and end the sit-in at the plant.

The sit-in started on January 30 after the appointed receiver, David Carson of Deloitte, shut down manufacturing there after running out of cash. The company had been in receivership since January 5.

Meanwhile, the furnace previously described as “the heart of the manufacturing process” at the Waterford Crystal Kilbarry plant, will today be empty for the first time in more than 20 years.

Furnace operatives at the Kilbarry plant yesterday morning began unplugging the furnace as part of a “controlled closing down” process at the plant yesterday morning, while it is expected to be empty by this afternoon, according to a source.

It is understood that a decision to drain the furnace was taken to save massive energy costs, and efforts will be made in the coming weeks to see if the furnace can be modified to process reduced quantities of molten glass.

“There’s a good chance she’ll be used again, but this spells the end of mass production that has been seen in the past at Waterford Crystal,” said a source.