Four companies ‘interested in Pinneys’

SCOTLAND’s business and enterprise minister, Paul Wheelhouse, is scheduled to meet the Young’s management team at the Pinneys salmon plant in Annan later this week.
He is expected to discuss the future of the site, which is threatened with closure at the end of the year, putting 450 jobs in jeopardy.
The move comes as a formal 45-day consultation period formally got underway this week. Salmon production is being moved to Grimsby.
Wheelhouse said the priority must be to maintain some production at the site and retain as many of the jobs as possible.
Oliver Mundell, Conservative MSP for Dumfriesshire, also revealed that at least four companies have expressed early interest in the plant, although the only name in the public domain so far is the salmon firm St James Smokehouse, which is already based in Annan.
Mundell called on ministers to ensure that any buyer would receive financial help from the Scottish government.
Wheelhouse said: ‘Subject to due diligence, we will certainly be offering all possible financial support that we can within the state aid limits that we have to operate in.
‘It will be treated with the highest priority, to try and provide secure employment for those at the site.’
The minister said the government remained ‘deeply concerned’ over the impact of the closure on the Annan community, claiming the job losses would be the equivalent of 25,000 in Edinburgh.
Scotland’s Labour leader, Richard Leonard, told the Scottish Trade Union Congress yesterday that workers should be given the right to take over the Annan site if the closure goes ahead.
Picture: Minister Paul Wheelhouse