330 jobs go at troubled Ilford Imaging

Nearly half the staff at Ilford Imaging lost their jobs today in a move aimed at stemming losses at the troubled photographic materials supplier.

Receivers Grant Thornton said the 330 job cuts increased the chances of finding a buyer for the Mobberley, Cheshire-based firm.

Redundancies were spread across all departments to trim the workforce to 400 as it battles to secure an improvement in trading.

Les Ross, a partner at Grant Thornton, said: “The receivers’ intention is to create a period of stability during which the sale of the business, with a restructured cost base, can be explored.”

Ilford, which was founded in 1879, was placed in the hands of receivers on Monday after the weakness of the US dollar and major de-stocking by customers led to mounting losses.

This combined with sales of black-and-white photographic supplies manufactured at the Mobberley site slumping 26% in the first half of the year.

Grant Thornton has said it would look at the potential of selling Ilford’s traditional photographic business as a going concern and allow the company to focus on its more profitable inkjet digital arm in Switzerland.

The Swiss manufacturing company, based in Marly with 450 staff, develops and makes digital inkjet products. It is continuing to trade normally.

Mr Ross said talks were taking place with suppliers and customers to pave the way for Ilford to return to financial health.

“Despite the decline in the monochrome market the business has a very significant market share as well as manufacturing capacity at the Mobberley site, Mr Ross said.