Upbeat presentation allays Wedgwood job fears (VIDEO)

By lpsyllides

WORKERS at pottery firm Wedgwood's Barlaston headquarters have been told there will be no more redundancies for now.

Employees leaving a meeting with representatives from new owners KPS Capital Partners told The Sentinel they are feeling slightly more optimistic after hearing their proposals for the future.

New chief executive Pierre de Villemejane told workers it would be business as usual for the next 30 to 40 days while new plans for the firm are formulated.

Fears had been raised over more redundancies at Barlaston after KPS managing partner Michael Psaros told the Financial Times he intends to transfer all but the high-end production to Indonesia.

KPS, a New York-based private equity firm, announced on Thursday it formed a new company, WWRD Holdings, to complete the purchase of "certain assets" of Waterford Wedgwood in the UK and abroad.

Article continues below

2fmedia.thisisthesentinel.co.uk%2fTSPlayer%2fJSON.aspx%3fid%3d41459%26embedded%3dtrue">

Wedgwood workers meet new bosses.

Workers leaving the Barlaston factory yesterday said it was a relief to be out of the administration process, which has been going on since January 5.

One employee, who asked to remain anonymous, said: "KPS have told us their plan will be in place in about 40 days and we'll know more then.

"We're feeling a bit more optimistic."

Another worker added: "The meeting was more of a presentation of what KPS is because no-one knew anything about them. It seems like it's very rare for them to fail when they take a company over.

"They've said there will be no more redundancies in the near future while they sort stuff out. We're back on Monday to start production.

"They said they were reorganising the dynamics of the company and technically it sounded very impressive.

"It sounds like they've got a lot more money to spend, and it seems like they're going to be more dynamic with the decisions at board level.

"If you look at the history of how the company's been run, the old way isn't the way of the world now.

"It's got to be more positive than what we've been going through for the past two months in administration."

KPS managing partner Michael Psaros said: "This is a new day for Waterford Wedgwood, the leading enterprise in the luxury home and lifestyle industry worldwide. As a new company created and owned by KPS, with an accomplished new CEO, and a new capital structure, the firm is positioned for great success."

Mr de Villemejane added: "We look forward to building on the company's world-renowned brands and incomparable heritage, premier designers and strong customer relationships. No other company in this dynamic sector has a comparable breadth of products from classic to contemporary, and we intend to grow the business aggressively."

It has emerged that KPS is not buying any of Waterford Wedgwood's assets in Ireland apart from its stock of products.

Workers at Waterford Crystal voted last week to accept an agreement negotiated between trade union Unite, KPS and Deloitte which will see 176 jobs retained out of 480, but those workers will be employed by Deloitte rather than KPS.

Employees have ended a sit-in which began in January when Deloitte closed Waterford's Kilbarry plant, and a consortium is now in discussions about the future.