Jobs under threat as one of Burnley's biggest employers hit by coronavirus sales slump

Burnley firm VEKA is to launch a consultation process following a drop in sales in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
VEKAVEKA
VEKA

The PVCu systems manufacturer, based in Rossendale Road Industrial Estate, temporarily closed operations in the UK and placed most of its staff on furlough due to the Covid-19

pandemic.

Despite the company reopening on May 11th, albeit in a controlled and scaled manner to fulfil a returning demand from customers, it has become clear that the business is not going to bounce-back to pre Covid-19 levels and as such action must be taken to rescale the business in light of significantly reduced sales.

Managing director Dave JonesManaging director Dave Jones
Managing director Dave Jones
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Managing director Dave Jones said: "VEKA plc has taken a number of actions over the past months to mitigate the effects of Covid19 from arranging financial support to putting all non-essential spend on indefinite hold. However, upon our return on the 11th May and speaking with our customer base over recent weeks, we have identified some significant customer losses - one of whom went into administration just last week which will have a substantial impact on our business.”

VEKA plc started the process yesterday, initially looking to establish an employee elected committee responsible for taking group redundancy consultations and from there the firm will

follow the process as set out by relevant employment law rules & regulations.

“Having taken all available options to us to ensure our business remains sustainable, we are now forced to take more prudent approach to all company expenditure and to review the resource requirements in light of this predicted drop in sales," added Mr Jones. "That said, at this stage we cannot confirm exact numbers of potential redundancies, however we will continue to monitor situation on a daily basis throughout the process.

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"This is not the year we, the board of directors, had planned for VEKA plc in 2020 and we are disappointed that Covid-19 has had such an impact on our economy, industry and business despite the strong support packages from the government and saddened that this will ultimately result in losing valued employees."

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