Quinn Group to invest £133m in Welsh radiator plant

Quinn Group, the company owned by businessman Sean Quinn and his family, is to invest £133 million (€194

Quinn Group, the company owned by businessman Sean Quinn and his family, is to invest £133 million (€194.65 million) in a new radiator manufacturing plant in Newport,Wales.

It is expected to create 460 jobs in an area that has seen a severe decline in manufacturing activity over the past decade. The group has bought the former LG Philips building from the Welsh Assembly to consolidate and expand its radiator production.

Quinn Radiators, which has manufacturing operations in Belgium, Lancashire and Ireland, is already one of Europe's leading producers of domestic radiators. The company, along with its rivals, is benefiting as low interest rates across Europe have encouraged construction of new homes, and the renovation of existing properties.

Quinn said it plans to expand the 65,032sq m (700,000sq ft) Newport site to about 92,903 sq m (one million sq ft) to cope with the increase in demand. Once operational, the site will produce about four million compact radiators a year.

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"This investment will be a major boost to the economy of southeast Wales, creating a high number of quality manufacturing jobs and benefiting local companies in the supply chain, not least the steel industry in south Wales," said Andrew Davies, minister for economic development and transport at the Welsh Assembly.

The communities of Newport and the surrounding area were hurt badly in 2001, when Corus, formerly British Steel, closed its steel-making plants resulting in the loss of hundreds of manufacturing jobs. About 800 jobs were lost in 2003 when LG Philips closed its plant on the site.

Quinn Group, said earlier this month that pretax profits at the privately owned company will be more than €270 million this year, an increase of more than 22 per cent on 2004. Sales will likely rise to more than €1.3 billion, from €1 billion last year, a spokesman said.

Apart from its insurance arm, Quinn Direct, which made a profit of €89 million in the first six months of the year, the company does not break out earnings for its individual divisions.

Quinn, whose Barlo operation has been producing radiators at its factory in Leigh, Lancashire, northern England, for 35 years, has been seeking to expand its radiator business since its €84 million takeover of radiator and plastics group Barlo in May 2004. The company, which had been in negotiations with the Welsh Assembly for more than a year, received a £6 million grant from the assembly to take over the Newport site.

Quinn Group employs more than 4,300 people in Ireland, the UK and Europe, and has been in business for over 30 years.