Jobs saved at Carpets International

Enterprise Minister, Ian Pearson has welcomed the announcement that carpet production at the former Carpets International factory in Donaghadee has resumed, following the establishment of a new company, formed by a team of former managers led by Joe Williams.

The new company, Donaghadee Carpets Limited, has secured significant funding to acquire the assets of the factory to launch a new venture with assistance of Invest NI, Enterprise Equity and Ulster Bank.

Commenting on the news Mr Pearson said: "Since the initial unfortunate decision of Carpets International to cease its operations in Donaghadee and Killinchy, I have taken a close interest in developments and have held a number of meetings with the unions, management and locally elected representatives to explore how best to mitigate the effects of the decision.

"Today's announcement is a positive development and offers the prospect of employment for a substantial number of people. It is good news for those individuals, their families and for the North Down area in general."

Joe Williams added: "We are extremely excited about this opportunity. Our customers have worked with us and waited patiently as we assembled this deal and now we're ready to get our salesmen and products back into the marketplace. Support from our suppliers has been a key part of building a viable plan and they have been superb. We have orders placed and materials are on the way to the factory."

Mr Williams said he envisaged that the move would create 116 jobs at the factory, though these will phase in over the first year. Initially the firm will hire approximately 65 - 70 employees and add more as the demand picks up later in the year.

Last September, Carpets International announced that around 160 jobs were to go at its plants in Killinchy and Donaghadee.

The announcement was made after the company went into receivership the month previous.

The redundancies were part of an overall redundancies scheme in which 300 employees lost their jobs across the UK.

(MB)