VILNIUS - Kwintet Production, a Lithuanian-based company under the Scandinavian work-wear and uniform producer Kwintet, has said it would cease manufacturing at its Kaunas-based plant by the end of the year.
"We have received an order from one of the group executives to suspend manufacturing gradually. However, we will not yet specify the reasons," Arturas Pankevicius, Kwintet Production CFO, told the Baltic News Service.
Upon suspension of manufacturing, company staff will be reduced to 50 employees who will work on retail trade and searching for new orders, he added.
Other employees will be offered jobs at alternative Lithuanian firms - mostly Neo Textile, a domestic company controlled by the Kwintet Group. The factory operated by Kwintet Production employs a work force of 270.
The plant has settled its manufacturing facilities to several 5,000 square-meter premises in Kaunas, which will be taken over by Denmark's Micro Matic. The company is due to launch its production of beer barrel equipment as of mid-October.
Pankevicius, present CFO of Kwintet Production, will take up Micro Matic's administration and financial officer duties.
Kwintet Production, established in 1993, has reported sales of some 12 million litas (3.5 million euros) for last year.
Other Kwintet Group assets in Lithuania include Neo Textile, which deals with the trade of hospital clothing. The group also controls garment factories in Latvia, Ukraine and other countries.
