Melton Medes Group founder and chairman Nathu Ram Puri has blamed poor management for the closure of the companys Robert Fletcher Stoneclough mill (PrintWeek, 25 May).


When a company is unable to produce materials within its cost base, and at a price the customer will pay, then it has to close, he said.


If the management cannot deliver then that is a problem.


The management team at Stoneclough was headed by managing director Neil Robertson. The closure has also provoked strong reaction from Brian Iddon, prospective Labour Party MP for Bolton South East.


Iddon, MP for the last four years, said he fought as hard as he could to prevent the closure of the mill.


This is yet more haemorrhaging of an industry that has suffered from legislation, cheaper imports and strong currency levels, he said.


The Stoneclough and Greenfield mills form part of a diverse group of companies owned by Nottingham-based Melton Medes Group.


The closure comes as Purico, through subsidiary RFS, another company attached to Melton Medes, acquired the Ecusta mill of PH Glatfelter in the US for 27.5m cash ($39m).


The Ecusta mill specialises in cigarette papers and lightweight printing papers, the same business lines as the Stoneclough mill.


Puri said the firm was looking at expansion, if not in the UK then in Europe or the US.


The Stoneclough mill had lost nearly 3m in the last 12 months, said Puri, but it was too early to say what would be the fate of the site.


We may keep the mill in a much smaller state, or may develop the site, he said.


Another link in the Melton Medes chain is Stockport-based Premipak, which trades as Lithopak, and went into administrative receivership in February.