UK – Arla Foods has announced it is to close two facilities this year, while its supplier partner Express Milk Partnership (EMP) has bought a further stake in the company following their merger last year.

Arla intends to close its dairy at Bamber Bridge in Lancashire, and its glass bottling line at the Hatfield Peverel dairy in Essex, which will result in the loss of 310 jobs.

The Hatfield line will close, subject to consultation, in May 2004, with the Bamber Bridge site following in July. Its old Leeds dairy will also close in October 2004 once the company’s new Stourton site, which will be the most technologically advanced in the UK, opens.

Meanwhile, the dairy farmer co-operative EMP has raised money to increase its share in the company in the form of a loan from HSBC bank, which will be repaid by deductions of up to 0.5 pence (eight euro cents) per litre from EMP members’ monthly milk cheques.