Liberty Steel put 440 jobs at risk

The British industrial and metals company, owned by Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance, began restructuring process in 2021 following the collapse of GFG’s main lender Greensill Capital. In November last year Liberty  Steel reached an agreement for a debt restructuring with the main creditors of Greensill.

In the next phase of the restructuring, Liberty Steel has set out a four-point plan in order to create an entity positioned to better withstand challenging market conditions, serve strategic supply chains and provide the foundation for a decarbonised UK steel industry. 

As part of this, it will focus on high value alloy steel production at its sites in Rotherham, Stocksbridge and Brinsworth. There will, however, be a reduction in primary production at Rotherham, replaced by imported billet and slabs to feed rolling and finishing lines at Rotherham, Scunthorpe, and Dalzell as an interim measure to mitigate the impact of energy costs. 

Additionally, its plant in Newport will be idled and transformed into a sales and distribution hub for its products. It has say it’s committed to restarting commodity production and idled plants when the market and operating conditions allow, and a longer-term aim of growing Rotherham into a two million tonnes per year green steel facility. 

These reforms come following the injection of £200m of shareholder capital over the last two years, with production of some commodity grade products at Rotherham and downstream mills becoming unviable in the short term due to high energy costs and imports from countries without the same environmental standards.  

The firm has said the restructuring may potentially impact up to 440 roles across the business and will consult with employee representatives, trade unions and the UK government throughout the process. 

As part of this, Liberty Steel will offer an alternative to redundancy through its “Workforce Solutions” programme, which aims to retain, redeploy and reskill affected colleagues.   

Commenting on this news, Liberty Steel’s chief transformation officer Jeffrey Kabel said: “Refocusing our operations will set the right platform for Liberty Steel UK’s high-quality manufacturing businesses to adapt quickly to challenging market realities.  

“The support of our marquee customers will enable us to produce high value, differentiated products through 2023 and beyond for strategic sectors such as aerospace, defence and energy. We remain committed to our longer-term growth plans in the UK including our plan to grow Rotherham into a two million tonne green steel hub. 

“While our action is expected to regrettably impact the roles of some of our workforce we will provide a level of guaranteed salary and out placement opportunities through our unique Workforce Solutions programme as an alternative to redundancy.  

“Liberty’s shareholder Sanjeev Gupta has supported the business through a very difficult period and remains committed to the workforce here in the UK and ensuring our lower carbon operations help deliver a sustainable, decarbonised UK steel industry.”