Covpress jobs at risk as Coventry firm goes into administration

[dutchman]

Christmas boost for former Covpress workers as owner reveals plant will not be sold



Workers at Coventry manufacturer Liberty Pressing Solutions - formerly known as Covpress - received a welcome Christmas boost after it was revealed the company will not be sold.

In an internal memo obtained by CoventryLive, Liberty Pressing Solutions revealed the company will not be sold as part of the strategic review.

The memo to staff said: “You may be aware that Liberty recently appointed advisers to look at strategic options for Liberty Pressing Solutions.

“Those options, as reported in the media, included making acquisitions to strengthen the business, strategic alliances or partnerships, business development or new ownership.

“Today, I want to update you on that review. We have concluded that the best option for LPS is to remain part of the GFG Alliance.”

The memo added: “We’re committed to LPS for the long-term and we are determined to make the business sustainable.

“Our focus will be on strengthening LPS’s order book and on continuing to beat the competition to deliver an outstanding service to our customers.

“It has been well documented that the automotive market has been tough in the UK, not least because of uncertainty around Brexit.

“Nevertheless, LPS is well placed in a competitive market, and we intend to look at options to lead any consolidation that may take place in automotive pressings.”

[dutchman]

200 jobs axed at historic Coventry firm



Hundreds of jobs are set to be lost at a Coventry firm within the automotive sector.

Bosses at Liberty Pressing Solutions said the cuts are a direct result of the “unprecedented economic downturn” caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

As reported by CoventryLive a consultation with employees began in June, when it was understood that 150 jobs were at risk.

Now the company has said it will cut 200 jobs.

Bosses have pledged to make the redundancies on a voluntary basis where possible and said they were striving to offer alternative employment elsewhere within the business to those impacted.

Liberty Pressing Solutions, formerly CovPress, manufactures pressings, welded assemblies and chassis.

[rebbonk]

This is nothing to do with covid, but with p*ss poor management. Their 'acid test' ratio (ability to cover debts) has dropped from 1.15 (good) to 0.7 (not very good) since 2017.

[dutchman]

Liberty sites sold to Coventry automotive supplier Evtec



About 175 jobs have been saved after two aluminium parts factories were bought by an automotive supplier.

The Liberty Aluminium Technologies (LAT) sites in Coventry and Kidderminster have been sold to Evtec Aluminium after intervention from Jaguar Land Rover.

The factories - part of Sanjeev Gupta's metals empire - were put up for sale as an attempt to refinance his GFG group.

Another LAT site in Witham, Essex will close, resulting in 64 job losses.

The sites were a "critical" part of JLR's supply chain and the company encouraged the sale, said Evtec.

Mr Gupta's empire has been in dire financial straits since the demise of the group's main financial backer Greensill Capital went bust in early March.

GFG Alliance employs 35,000 people at companies stretching from Wales to Australia. Its Liberty Steel arm in the UK has about 3,000 staff.

In a statement, LAT said it had been under "significant commercial pressure" as a result of structural changes to the automotive sector and that after a "strategic review of options" it had decided to sell to Evtec, securing the sites.

David Roberts, Evtec's chairman, said the factories in Coventry and Kidderminster were "essential" as far as Jaguar Land Rover were concerned "so that drove us to look at it very closely when it came up for sale".

He said he had a "strong plan" for investment at the sites around the growing market for electric and hybrid vehicles.

[dutchman]

209 workers risk losing their jobs as Liberty fails to sell Coventry pressing plant

More than 200 steelworkers’ jobs at a Coventry-based firm have been plunged into jeopardy as bosses triggered a consultation on redundancies.

The Mirror reports 209 staff at Liberty Pressing Solutions in Burnsall Road face uncertainty after efforts to sell the plant failed.

Previous customers for the steel company include Jaguar Land Rover, Honda, Nissan, BMW, digger-manufacturer JCB and tractor-maker New Holland.

Announcing the latest update on its restructuring and refinancing strategy, Liberty Pressing Solutions' parent company Gupta Family Group Alliance said: “Following the announcement in May 2021 that GFG Alliance would be divesting Liberty Pressing Solutions Coventry (LPSC) the Group has actively been seeking potential buyers for the business.

“LPSC has continued to fulfil customer orders through this period, during which operations were funded through shareholder capital.

“The structural long-term downturn in the UK automotive market has meant that it has not been possible to find a buyer for LPSC, and as a result, a formal consultation opened on March 7.”

Trade union Unite said the Coventry factory could be saved.

National officer Des Quinn said: “Unite believes that this plant can have a viable future.

“We understand that there are potential buyers interested in purchasing the company - Unite urges them to speak to the union as soon as possible.

“Unite is committed to doing everything it can to preserve work and jobs at the factory.”

[rebbonk]

Previous customers for the steel company...

As always happens in these cases, the key customers will prop up a distressed company for as long as it takes them to arrange supplies from elsewhere.

I really see no way that the company will survive from here on in without a major player buying it.

[dutchman]

Campaigners bid to save hundreds of steelworkers' jobs at Coventry based Liberty Pressing Solutions



Campaigners bidding to save hundreds of steelworkers’ jobs in Coventry have urged MPs to back their fight. More than 200 roles are under threat at city-based Liberty Pressing Solutions after efforts to sell the plant failed.

Staff have until April 21 to save their livelihoods. Labour MP Zarah Sultana used a parliamentary device to rally fellow MPs behind the crusade. Her 146-word Early Day Motion “calls on management to redouble efforts to save jobs at Liberty Steel Solutions and find a buyer; and calls on the Government to urgently act to protect skilled jobs at Liberty Pressing Solutions with an industrial strategy and investment to transition to a green, sustainable economy”.

Ms Sultana told the Mirror: “Workers at Liberty Pressing Solutions have decades of experience, with skills that are vital to rebuilding our manufacturing base and for transitioning to a green, sustainable economy. That is why it would be a travesty to abandon them and let their skills go to waste – and for the workers and their families, this would be at the worst possible time, with the cost-of-living crisis biting hard.

“The Government needs to step up and proactively support manufacturing jobs like this with an industrial strategy that secures their long-term, sustainable future.”

Ms Sultana raised the potential closure in the Commons this week, where Business Minister Lee Rowley told MPs: “The challenges around Liberty are well known.”

Trade union Unite is also battling to save the posts. National Officer for Unite Des Quinn said: "This plant should have a viable future and it is incumbent on the Government and Liberty to work with potential buyers to secure that future as part of a joined-up strategy to ensure that the automotive industry successfully undergoes the transition needed to meet the challenges of the green economy."

[rebbonk]

At the risk of sounding heartless, 200 jobs are nothing. How many jobs went when an ill-informed minister wrongly announced that Rover Group had gone bust?

Anyone looking to politicians to assist them wants their heads examined.

[dutchman]

Liberty Pressing Solutions to close gates for last time



A Coventry manufacturer has ceased production and is set to close later this month, a union said.

About 200 people worked at Liberty Pressing Solutions previously, with just 30 now remaining, Unite said.

Owner GFG Alliance announced in March last year it had been unable to find a buyer for the company due to the "structural long-term downturn in the UK automotive market".

A Liberty spokesperson confirmed it was stopping manufacturing at the site.

"We have completed our remaining supply commitments to customers and ceased manufacturing," the firm said.

Workers remaining at the site were there to ensure the handover from one supplier to another goes smoothly, said Unite's national officer Des Quinn.

GFG's main backer Greensill Capital collapsed in March 2021, forcing it to sell off parts of the global company.

The Coventry works, which had specialised in making parts for the automotive industry, had been losing work "over a number of years," said Mr Quinn, "mostly on a price basis".

"The remaining customers decided that it was a risk to their business when they had been asked to increase their prices," he said.

"So as a result they took their business elsewhere and that's what has resulted in the closure of the site."

Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana had raised the issue in Parliament, calling on the government to help those affected, after GFG Alliance announced the restructuring and refinancing programme.

A formal consultation was opened on 7 March, 2021, into the closure of the site, the company previously said.