There is concern that it’s the end of an era for a 38-year-old Isle of Wight business amid rumours that Ametek is to close its Newport factory.
The company’s roots go back to 1987 when Milmega – a company specialising in designing and manufacturing high-power amplifiers for electromagnetic compatibility testing – was established in Ryde.
By 2010, the firm had centralised all of its operations at its Park Road site, just 2 years before being bought by Teseq Holding AG – in the same year that Milmega picked up the Queen’s Award for Enterprise.
In 2014, Ametek bought Milmega but continued operating from Park Road before then moving to Daish Way, Newport in June 2023, under the Ametek brand.
Now, just 2 years after that move, it has been claimed that the business is ceasing its operations on the Isle of Wight and transferring operations abroad, bringing its near 40-year-old history on the Island to a close.
Staff are said to be ‘under consultation’, with many having already sought alternative employment. It’s thought that Ametek has, until recently, employed around 30 people on the Island.
Island Echo reached out to the company for a statement back in April, with an acknowledgement of our questions, but the firm has simply failed to provide a statement on the matter in the subsequent 2 months, despite several chases.
The news comes amid a flurry of blows to the local economy in recent months… In December, it was announced 300 jobs were to be lost at Vestas and on Boxing Day it was revealed Wyld in Newport had closed with immediate effect. Furthermore, Hovertravel has cut 17 staff roles and reduced both its morning and evening services, and Kingswood in Bembridge closed with immediate effect in January as a result of its parent company being placed into administration.
It doesn’t end there though. Snows Isle of Wight closed its doors in February due to economic circumstances and Liz Earle announced it is closing its Head Office in Ryde with the loss of a number of jobs. Cowes-based GTI Glazing has gone bust for the second time due to ‘cash flow difficulities’.
Reeves and Starmer have a lot to answer for with the national insurance hike for employers. They say they are helping business. LIARS.
Lol, and you think this company’s move abroad is to do with NI do you? Not the new trade directives because of Brexit then? And the Vestas jobs had nothing to do with cancelled contracts because of the Russia/Ukraine war? And then being sued for breach of contract?
If you bothered to pay attention to the news you’d also have worked out that the car industry also have to cut their cloth because of a reduction in the markets not only due to trade agreements, but also because manufacturing and thus also spare parts have been badly affected, ditto shipping parts imported at massive costs, the knock on effect is having to cut costs elsewhere.
People WERE told this stuff would happen before the Brexit vote, but no, they thought they wanted ‘freedom’. Well, they got it, lack of job and all.
Butterfly effect. Perhaps the butterflies were lying, eh?
Another boring remoaner.
What’s boring is the fact that food prices have risen by 25% because of the red tape for just in time deliveries putting a lot of SME’s out of business, and the associated costs of imports from non-EU countries, the loss of trade in the first 2 years alone was roughly £27bn, it’s now at £140bn, or the fact that the subsequent fall in our economy and pound has negatively impacted fuel and energy and commodity trading Or our GDP is down 4%, impacting jobs. How about the long wait for trade deals with India, China and the US, with worse rates than we had before pushing up the prices of metals, construction materials, semiconductors….Too boring for you maybe?
You, specifically, were also told, but you chose not to pay attention because you thought it was boring. You must be one of the very entitled ‘don’t care’ people left who still has a job, a roof and food enough to eat. 20,000 small business have collapsed because of Brexit, and there’s a shortfall of 1.8 million jobs. Why don’t you know that? Because of gig economy jobs…work for one hour a week, you’re employed so not counted in statistics.
No, what really, REALLY boring is people like you who don’t have the brain cells to pay attention, don’t care about anyone but yourself because Nigel told you he had a nice bit of fish wrapped up in a copy of the Sun for you. That’s gone up too because the fishermen are also going out of business.
Well said.
They are “growing the economy”. Backwards.
Ametek where due to close a couple of months ago. They’ve been told they can stay open until AT LEAST October. However that could be pushed even further down the road with the possibility of not closing at all. All of this started with Trump and his tariffs. Nothing to do with Starmer or Reeves.
The W.E.F plan is you will own nothing and be happy!
It’s happening, world governments are making people
poorer.
Where will all the new jobs come from!