A FURTHER 50 jobs have been saved at cash-strapped Hyndburn carpet firm Gaskell plc.
The jobs were secured in a second management buyout at the troubled company, which went into administration on 18 March.
Its 300 workers had been left facing an uncertain future, but it was announced last week that 145 jobs had been saved by a management buyout of the contract carpet business.
Now, hot on the heels of last week's news, it has been announced that a further 50 jobs have been saved in a second management buyout of the carpet underlay business, based at the Junction 7 Business Park, Clayton-le-Moors.
It has been sold to two former Gaskell employees - Neil Fitzsimmons, a former senior sales manager, and Norman Allan, who was until recently a Gaskell director - backed by Dutch flooring giant, the Condor Group.
The new underlay company, which will be known as Condor Combifloor Ltd (CCF), will remain on its current site and the management buyout team has already indicated that further manufacturing jobs are likely to be created in the near future.
Neil Fitzsimmons, sales director of CCF, said: "In an industry beleaguered by the loss of so many well-known and long-established floorcovering manufacturers in the UK, it is fantastic news that Condor, one of Europe's foremost manufacturers of floorcoverings, has seen Gaskell's underlay business as an opportunity for investment and development.
"Condor's involvement does not just offer security to the 50 people currently associated with underlay sales and manufacturing here at Clayton-le-Moors.
"The faith that the company has shown in the management buyout team and the workforce also means that decades of manufacturing and experience will be put to good use in the new business, which is great news for the area."
