239 jobs saved at packaging group after acquisition

MORE than 200 jobs have been saved after the sale of a North East and Yorkshire packaging company that had gone into administration.

- GRAEME WHITFIELD

PFF Group, which had sites in Sedgefield, County Durham, and Keighley, West Yorkshire, has been sold to Birmingham firm Coppice Alupack Ltd. PFF had gone into administration on Wednesday but the sale sees all 239 of its team transfer to Coppice.

PFF Group makes sustainable and recyclable plastic food-grade packaging. Howard Smith and Richard Harrison from Interpath were appointed joint administrators to three entities of the group, saying that inflationary pressures and softer consumer demand in the packaging industry had harmed its ability to maintain working capital.

After launching an accelerated M&A process, the directors took steps to appoint administrators after a solvent solution could not be found. The joint administrators were appointed to PFF Packaging Ltd, PFF Packaging (North East) Ltd, and PFF Packaging Group Ltd.