Puhos asset sale likely

Just a couple of key staff remain at failed particleboard manufacturer Puhos Board as administrators try to sell off the assets of the plant.

An insider at the company, which filed for bankruptcy at the end of September, told TTJ that the most likely outcome was either a relocation of the machinery to another part of the world or the possibility that somebody would make a financial case for restarting the plant, although he though this was unlikely in the current market.

Production at the 300,000m³ mill ceased when bankruptcy proceedings started and most employees then lost their jobs.

“There were a lot of good people at the plant, which is located well in the middle of the forest with an adjacent resin facility,” the contact said.

A statement on the company’s website blamed high raw material price levels, which hindered profitability.

“The demand for wood-based panels has remained slow and no major improvement of the situation is expected in the near future.”

“Regardless of many actions aimed at improving profitability the business has failed to turn around.”

More than half of Puhos’s production was exported to the UK market prior to 2008, when UK construction stalled. In recent years, Russia and the Nordic markets had been the mainstay, with an increasing focus on tongue and grooved and melamine faced products.

Puhos Board Oy has been in restructuring proceedings since May 2009. It had a turnover of about €30m and employed around 86 people.