High Liner Foods to close “excess” U.S. plant

Jan. 9, 2015 – High Liner Foods Inc., a Canadian processor and marketer of frozen seafood, has announced it will “reduce excess capacity at its United States manufacturing network” and close an underperforming Massachusetts plant.

The leased plant in Malden, Mass., currently has 50 full-time employees and an annual production of about 11.5 million pounds.

Some employees will be moved directly to positions at other High Liner facilities and the rest will be able to apply for jobs at High Liner plants in New Bedford, Mass. and Portsmouth, N.H., said the company.

The closure is estimated to result in an $800,000 after-tax impairment charge to write down equipment, mostly to be reflected in the fourth quarter of 2014. The company also expects about $300,000 of after-tax cash costs related to employment cuts.

High Liner’s corporate head office is located in Halifax, N.S., while its sales and marketing division is based in Concord, Ont. There are about 1540 employees worldwide in Canada, the United States, China, Iceland and Thailand.