Anglesey-based dairy plant falls into administration

Troubled Anglesey-based cheesemaker Mona Island Dairy has called in the administrators.

The 25,000sq ft cheese factory, based at Mona Industrial Park, Holyhead, opened in early 2023 with the aim of creating 100 jobs, paying premium prices to farmers and producing 7,000t of cheese a year.

More than £20m had been invested into the construction of the site, including a £3m grant from the Welsh government.

See also: Mona Dairy confirms search for a new owner

But Mona Dairy announced it had failed to secure enough funding in the short term to continue operating in its current form. It said its main priority was trying to secure the future of its 31 farmer-suppliers.

The company’s shareholders have spent the last two weeks trying to find a new owners for the business.

In a statement, it said Anthony Collier and Phil Reynolds of specialist business advisory firm FRP, were appointed as joint administrators of Mona Island Dairy Limited on 7 June 2024.

Focus is ‘finding a solution’

Mr Collier, administrator and partner at FRP, said: “Mona Island Dairy has a compelling proposition with its modern, sustainable facilities.

“Unfortunately, it’s not been able to raise the funding needed to continue operating and so, sadly, 24 employees have been made redundant and we are helping them to access support from the Redundancy Payments Service.

“We are now focused on finding a solution for the business and invite any interested parties to come forward.”