Tinmasters acquired Swansea-based Afon Tinplate in 2018. The company has announced that it now intends to consolidate its operations at the Afon site, now Tinmasters (Swansea), 65 miles away from Caldicot.

In a statement Tinmasters said that the restructure would reduce costs, remove duplication and maximise returns on future investment while also providing capacity to expand in future if necessary.

The Caldicot operation, formerly Caldicot Metal Decorating, filed sales of £14.65m and an operating profit of £1.7m in its most recent accounts for 2018, and employed 72 staff.

The Swansea operation had sales of £7.7m, made an operating loss of £663,000 and employed 48.

Chief executive Richard O’Neill stated: “The proposal is necessary to strengthen the company’s financial performance and will safeguard the long-term future of metal decoration in Wales.”

Tinmasters prints onto both tinplate and aluminium for a range of blue-chip clients including Harrods, Nestlé, Farrow & Ball and Yorkshire Tea.

It uses a range of specialist equipment. In autumn 2017 the company invested £6m in a state-of-the-art Koenig & Bauer MetalStar 3 sheetfed metal decorating line at the Caldicot site, which went into full production in early 2018.

Further details about whether the Caldicot equipment will be relocated, how many jobs will transfer or the extent of any potential redundancies were not available at the time of writing.