Waterford Crystal to return with new plant

THE OWNERS of Waterford Crystal announced plans yesterday for a new high-end manufacturing facility in Waterford in a joint venture with the city council that involves investment of between €20 and €25 million.

WWRD, the company which last year bought the publicly quoted Waterford Wedgwood out of receivership, said it expects the operation to generate sales of about €14 million a year when it is fully up and running.

More than 700 people lost their jobs as a result of the closure of Waterford Crystal’s original plant at Kilbarry last year. WWRD bought the Waterford brand and intellectual property, but not its manufacturing plant.

WWRD, whose ultimate owner is US investment fund KPS, intends opening a new Waterford Crystal Prestige manufacturing facility at the old ESB offices on the Mall in Waterford’s city centre. Yesterday, WWRD chief executive Pierre de Villeméjane estimated the business would generate sales of $20 million (€14.14 million) a year, close to 20 per cent of the old Waterford Crystal’s estimated $115-$120 million annual sales.

The plant and a linked polishing and finishing facility on the city’s outskirts will employ 80-90 full-time staff, who will manufacture up to 40,000 pieces a year.

The products will be hand-crafted, many of them specially commissioned, and will be pitched at the higher end of the market, with price tags of $250 and up.

The building on the Mall will also house a visitors’ centre, where people can watch crystal being blown and cut, and a shop which will sell the pieces.

The number of visitors to Waterford city halved last year. The old centre at the original Kilbarry plant was a key tourist draw. WWRD estimates that the new facility could bring the number back up to some 200,000.

The project was put together in partnership with Waterford City Council, which owns the building, and which has granted WWRD an eight-year lease. The total investment will be shared by WWRD and the council.

The company did not give a breakdown of the investment yesterday, but WWRD is estimated to be spending at least €10 million. That will include €800,000 for a new, two-tonne crystal furnace which the company is having constructed specifically for the plant, and for fit-out and start-up costs as well as rent for the council.

Yesterday, Anthony Jones, the WWRD executive overseeing the project in Waterford, said the company intends to begin recruiting in March. He added it was hopeful that former Waterford Crystal craftsmen and other staff would apply to work in the new facility.

Mr de Villeméjane said these people have the skills the new plant will need.

Mr Jones said that, if the new venture is successful enough over the first few years, WWRD will look at expanding the facility, possibly on the city’s quays. WWRD still employs 65 in Waterford, in sales and administration services.

Sir Anthony O’Reilly and his brother-in-law, Peter Goulandris, lost a total of €400 million when the banks appointed receiver, David Carson of Deloitte Ireland in January last year.