In a further step in its strategic plan announced in November last year, Trelleborg (Trelleborg / Sweden; www.trelleborg.com) is to close a second factory in the UK. The site at West Thurrock, part of the Fluid & Acoustic Solutions business and which produces polymer-based vehicle components, is set to close by the end of 2007. Some 150 employees, including about 40 salaried staff, are at risk of redundancy,says Trelleborg. Cost of the closure will be SEK 140m (EUR 15m), most of which will be charged to the first quarter of 2007. Production from the plant will be transferred to other sites in Europe, most likely to be in France and the Czech Republic. A positive earnings impact of SEK 45m annually will start to have full impact in 2008.

The West Thurrock plant is the second to be closed by the company in recent months. In November it announced that its AVS business unit in Trowbridge would shut by mid-2007 with the loss of 150 jobs, at a cost of SEK 150m, with manufacturing moving to Romania and Spain.