Gas prices put glass maker under

Deloitte’s Ian Brown and Neville Kahn were today appointed administrators of SLI Glass Limited - a Harworth, Doncaster-based manufacturer of glass light bulb and fluorescent tube casings. Ian Brown said: "We are looking to continue to trade the company whilst the business is marketed as a going concern and will be speaking with key suppliers, customers and the 165 employees to stabilise the situation."

The Company is a subsidiary of SLI UK Holdings Limited which has agreed to provide funding support to the administration while the business is reviewed and the potential to dispose of some or all of the company as a going concern is investigated.

The Company has struggled due to the high cost of gas in the UK and the loss of a major client, the administrators said.

David Workman, director general of the British Glass Manufacturers' Federation, told the Yorkshire Post: "This news is symptomatic of the effects of rising energy prices in manufacturing in general. The glass industry is part of that manufacturing base in the UK and is being detrimentally impacted by these huge cost increases."

The Federation said gas prices for its members had risen by 94 per cent over the last two years, while electricity prices had gone up by 74 per cent over the same period.

It predicts that gas prices will rise by a further 63 per cent over the first quarter of 2006 – a 166 per cent increase from early 2003.