The crashed Imperial Board Products Ltd facility in Ebbw Vale is to be broken up and sold off following the failure of a rescue attempt by its former managing director.
Huw Jones, who was forced to call in receivers in May after Imperial Board Products was hit by two large bad debts, admitted this week that he has had to abandon plans to buy key assets from the liquidator in the hope of relaunching the business.
In July Mr Jones told TTJ he was confident of obtaining financial backing for the venture, but this week he said that a poor economic outlook had scuppered the chances of a relaunch.
‘The basic economics of the panel industry, and the exchange rate being what it is, meant that what would have been a narrow margin business would have broken even at best.
‘There was no prospect of having a viable business on the site.’
He blamed this on low prices ‘and the industry’s unwillingness to address the price wars that everybody loses’.
Imperial Board Products was the UK’s only wet process high density fibreboard plant employing 120 workers when it ceased trading. At the time of its collapse, when it was producing 45,000 tonnes of board per year, it was enjoying buoyant demand from its customer base.
Mr Jones said the machinery – worth around £20m when it was installed in 1995 – is likely to be sold to overseas’ buyers.
