180 jobs at risk as cashmere firm nears the brink

MORE than 100 jobs have been put at risk after the Scottish cashmere company Dawson International was placed in administration.

The Hawick-based company, once a giant of the textile world with such big names as Pringle of Scotland, has been in decline over the past decade.

Its situation worsened recently after it announced that the pensions regulator and the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) had rejected proposals put forward by the firm.

Dawson had wanted to put its pension plans into a protection fund. It warned then that there was a danger it would have to appoint administrators if the talks with the PPF failed.

The firm’s shares were suspended last week after it revealed it could go bust if it did not find a way to handle its 
liabilities.

The move into administration places approximately 180 jobs at risk, although at its peak the firm had employed 12,000 people.

It is understood the company is continuing to trade as normal for the time being and its US import business will not be affected by this move.

In a statement to the stock exchange, yesterday, the firm said Gary Fraser and Blair Nimmo, both of KPMG, had now been appointed as its administrators.

David Bolton, chairman of Dawson, criticised the PPF’s move as “deplorable”.

“This is a sad day for Dawson International, and for British manufacturing,” he said.

“To see this 140-year-old company forced into administration due to the PPF’s decision is deplorable, a direct consequence of a flawed process lacking in common sense and transparency.”

Scottish Secretary Michael Moore has urged the administrators to work quickly to secure the future of its last remaining business, Barrie Knitwear, also in Hawick, in the Borders.

He said: “The workforce at Barrie needs certainly as soon as possible so I hope the administrators will move quickly and decisively.

“As local MP I will be working with the administrators and company representatives to secure the right outcome for the company.”

Dawson had been forced to sell its assets as it tried to recover from over-expansion, with a view to focusing on cashmere production, despite stiff foreign competition.

However, the Ballantyne plant in Innerleithen, Peeblesshire, was then sold too.

The firm has now fallen back to two parts of the business – the Barrie Knitwear cashmere operation, employing around 180 people, and a handful of people in Boston, Massachussetts, sourcing cashmere, mostly from China, for the US market.