The brickworks is the company鈥檚 oldest and smallest plant. It made two million bricks last year, but this was down on the 3.5 million it made in 2011.
In 2012 Dunton contributed turnover of 拢1.5m (2011: 拢1.8m) and produced a loss on operations of 拢372,000 (2011: profit of 拢96,000).
The UK brick market fell 8.5% in the first quarter of 2013 and .
聽鈥淎 combination of higher production costs, diminishing quality of mineral reserves and strong local competition resulted in a worsening outlook for the plant,鈥� chairman Eric Gadsden said.
Michelmersh is now looking at converting Dunton鈥檚 26-acre site to become a waste dump, as it has planning consent for landfill to a capacity of 550,000 tonnes.
Despite the fall in market demand, Michelmersh increased despatch volumes in the first quarter of 2013 by 3% compared to 2012. It has also maintained its selling prices, while the UK brick industry has reported falling average prices.
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