Discussions between the two parties commenced last month, when the Scottish independent papermaker announced it was seeking to consolidate its operations into one site at Guardbridge, St Andrews (printweek.com, 29 April).

Managing director Alban Denton said he hoped the agreement would now help remove any further uncertainty for the company's employees, and that as many as possible would be able to take up new jobs at Guardbridge.

The proposal resulted from the company reporting losses of 269,000 for 2003, a reversal of a 1.28m profit in 2002.

The losses had come about as a result of "tough trading conditions in key markets", but the company has said the move to a single site operation and a reduction in operating costs will help to return it to profitability in the next 12 months.

Employees have now voted to accept an enhanced redundancy package, which will see around 30 jobs being created at the Guardbridge site, some 60 miles away.

The Dalmore mill has a capacity of 10,000 tonnes per annum, and with the move to single site production, Guardbridge will become a 30,000-40,000 tonne per annum facility.

Dalmore will cease production on 16 July.

Work will commence shortly on the removal of papermaking, laminating, embossing and finishing equipment from Dalmore to Guardbridge.

The 7.5-hectare site will then be prepared to required environmental standards, and will eventually be sold for re-development.

Curtis produces over 40,000 tonnes of special make, security and branded papers each year, and is best known for its Classic and Conservation uncoated fine paper brands.

Curtis Fine Papers was the subject of a multi-million pound management buyout from Royal Blue Holdings in 2002, which saw its mills return to Scottish ownership for the first time in 20 years.

Story by Andy Scott