France: Only a few dozen jobs saved at Tilly-Sabco

Although four companies have shown an interest in buying the French chicken company Tilly-Sabco which is out of administration, at least 270 of the current 326 employees will still lose their job.

The candidates for the take-over intend to save no more than 20 to 50 jobs, the unions have told staff at Tilly-Sabco’s headquarters in Guerlesquin, Brittany. ”This is a terrible disappointment for all involved, we’re heading for another social disaster in this part of France,” a spokesperson for the unions said.

According to papers filled at the commercial court in Brest that deals with the insolvency of Tilly-Sabco, the French companies that have shown an interest are turkey processor Le Clezio and meat trader Leadex. A British company and one from Saudi-Arabia, of which the names have not been made public, are also interested. The candidates are mainly interested in the sausage facilities of Tilly-Sabco while one of them intend to partly resume the chicken processing activities.

Tilly-Sabco filed for bankruptcy on September 30 after it suffered huge losses since the European Commission stopped the subsidy on the export of frozen chicken to so-called third countries.