British Telecommunications Plc always said that it manufactured only where it couldn’t find a suitable outside supplier, and now that it is shedding its peripheral businesses to concentrate on telecommunications, it certainly doesn’t need little factories dotted around. Accordingly, it has persuaded STC Plc to buy its plant in Cwncarn, South Wales, which employs 700 people making Vanguard telephones. Terms of the sale were not disclosed, but Reuters quotes analysts putting it at UKP11m – but STC also gets a contract to continue to supply the phones for up to three years, and that is estimated to be worth UKP50m. STC will be taking on the majority of the employees. The plant is the main operation of BT Consumer Electronics, which employs nearly 900 people and prints labels and refurbishes phones as well. Telecom is looking for another buyer for the labels business and is running down the refurbishing operations.
