The Belgian brewer, Alken Maes, is to close its production site at Waarloos in the province of Anwerp which currently employs 130 people.
Alken Maes, part of S&N, is to begin disassembling the plant at the end of the month, with production scheduled to be discontinued at the end of March. The company has put together a restructuring plan which includes early retirement, transfer to another facility and retraining programmes for staff. A spokesman said that only a small proportion of the Waarloos staff had agreed to switch to a production facility in Alken in northeastern Belgium.
The company, which is the second largest brewer in Belgium, recorded sales of €190m ($202m) in 2001. In total, it employs some 850 people, with its main breweries located in Alken, Jumet and Kobbegem.
