Bid to save bakery site and shops

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Hear about the attemtps to secure Ferrari's future

A bakery factory that has closed down threatening hundreds of high street jobs in south Wales could be bought out by managers.

The Best Bakeries factory in Hirwaun in the Cynon Valley supplies 51 Ferrari's bakery shops.

On Friday, just four of the stores were open for business.

But the factory's manager said he hoped a deal with investors or a management buyout could be agreed, with production restarting at the site next week.

Steve Fogo of Best Bakeries said decisions by banks to pull credit facilities forced the factory into administration.

It has left virtually the whole chain of the Ferrari's shops, which are owned by a sister company, without any products to sell.

The words 'credit crunch' are bandied about too much - we just ran out of funding options Steve Fogo, Best Bakeries manager

It has also meant the 350 staff who run the stores have been left unsure about their jobs.

But Mr Fogo insisted that all was being done to get the business up and running again.

"What we are trying to do is to get this package up and running by the end of the day and get in production," he said.

"Our aim is to get the investors involved, possibly the management buy-out, sorted out by the end of today and production starting early next week to supply the shops again."

The bakery laid off 50 people last week following a fire which destroyed three vehicles and caused smoke damage to the site.

Funding options

Mr Fogo said a decision was then taken to "pull the plug" on the whole operation by his superiors, when the banks withdrew funding.

"The words 'credit crunch' are bandied about too much - we just ran out of funding options to continue the operation any further," he said.

"There was a balloon of credit and creditor behind us, and the management above took the decision that it was no longer viable to run the bakery."

The company said it had continued working late into Thursday night in an attempt to secure bread and other bakery products to put into the Ferrari shops.

But, said Mr Fogo, there were very few operations that could supply the necessary quantity of items on a daily basis.

"The problem with Ferrari's is we are too big," he added.

It is just over a year since the factory, which used to be Ferrari's headquarters, was taken over by Best Bakeries.

The firm said one of the main factors in the decision to put it into administration had been the increasing cost of basic food ingredients.

"We are all very disappointed with the situation that has happened," stressed the factory's manager.

"We were trying to keep production here on a smaller scale, then obviously we had the fire here last Thursday.

"One thing has a domino effect on another."