Trelleborg to Divest Coventry Facility

Trelleborg disclosed its intention to close the company’s operations in West Thurrock at its Capital Markets Day in November 2006, and now, a year later, Trelleborg has announced it has entered an agreement in principal to divest its operations in Coventry, which belong to Trelleborg Automotive UK. Trelleborg states that the Coventry operations will be taken over by the company’s management.

This decision comes as part of Trelleborg’s ‘strategic and operational action program’ within the Trelleborg Automotive business area, and Roger Johansson, Business Area president of Trelleborg Automotive, commented: “This operation is not part of Trelleborg’s core business, it has few synergies with our remaining activities and is limited in size. The transaction will enable us to further focus our automotive operations, at the same time as the business conducted in Coventry will now have an opportunity to grow within its particular area.”

The operations conducted in Coventry employ approximately 110 persons and are a part of Trelleborg’s AVS business. The facility’s main production output consists of airsprings. It generated sales of about £11.57 million in 2006 and reported a loss. The divestment requires fulfilment of certain conditions as well as negotiations with employee representatives. Takeover will occur during the fourth quarter of 2007.