Seven Seas sinks into the red after closure costs

The business, whose ranges include Haliborange, Cod Liver Oil, Joint Care and Multibionta, recorded a pre-tax loss of £29.1m in the year to the end of December 2012, compared to a pre-tax profit of £1.7m in 2011, according to accounts filed with Companies House.

Turnover was down at £49.8m in 2012, compared to £60.8m in the previous year.

Seven Seas was formed in Hull more than 75 years ago by a consortium of East Yorkshire trawler owners.

Seven Seas, whose parent firm is pharmaceutical giant Merck, said in December last year that it would close its plant in Hull over the following two to three years. At the time it was said that up to 259 jobs could be lost.

The decision to close the facility, relocate sales, marketing and administration functions to other group facilities and outsource the production and distribution of the company’s products was part of the Merck Group’s Fit for 2018 project.

The latest accounts for Seven Seas showed that a provision of £22.1m relating to this project was made, including £15.7m relating to site closure costs and £6.4m in respect of the impairment of the associated fixed assets.

No dividend was paid during 2012 or 2011.

The directors’ report, included as part of the 2012 year end accounts, said: “The development of own-label product and competition in key value added segments continue to have an impact on margins.

“Product development activity is being maintained in order to counter this threat.”

Seven Seas declined to comment when contacted by the Yorkshire Post yesterday.

But last December, Seven Seas said that the plan to close the Hull factory reflected “the difficult economic conditions” the company was facing.