New Factory Site

18 Jan 2005 07:00

Gooch & Housego PLC18 January 2005 18 January 2005 Gooch & Housego PLC New Factory Site After a four-year search for a suitable site on which to construct a new factoryand headquarters building Gooch & Housego PLC is hopeful that it will soon beable to announce the acquisition of a factory and land in Ilminster. Clarks, the well-known shoe manufacturer, recently announced that it would ceaseproduction at its Dowlish Ford factory, on the edge of Ilminster, in March thisyear. The facility will close in April. Gooch & Housego and Clarks have begundiscussions with a view to Gooch & Housego acquiring the facility, therebyenabling the site to continue to be used for employment purposes. Although a saddevelopment for the Clarks workforce, this represents an exciting opportunityfor Gooch &Housego and an important step for Ilminster in enabling majoremployer to stay and expand in the town. It is essential for Gooch & Housego to find larger premises in order to preventfuture growth being constrained by lack of space. It is also important for Gooch& Housego to have a high quality, clean environment in which to manufacture itsprecision optoelectronic products. At nearly eight acres and with a number ofgood quality buildings in place, the Clarks site represents an ideal locationfor a new G&H facility. By combining the restoration and refurbishment of thebest of the existing buildings with an element of new build, subject to planningconsent, Gooch & Housego hopes to create a facility that will improve efficiencyand provide scope for substantial future growth. It is significant that thisdevelopment will potentially allow Gooch & Housego to begin to benefit from theadditional space within months. For further information : Gareth Jones 01460 52271Gooch & Housego PLC Tim Thompson 0207 466 5000Buchanan Communications Ltd This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange