16 July 2010

Lockerbie III Update

James Jones & Sons Ltd are continuing to take steps to minimise the disruption caused by the fire that occurred on the Lockerbie III sawline on 16th June.

The second saw group was the only part of the line that was affected by the fire and this has now been uplifted and transported back to Sweden to be fully, and forensically, analysed by the manufacturer, Soderhamn Eriksson. Their engineers have evaluated the extent of the damage and have commenced the necessary repairs required for re-commissioning. Spares and new parts had already been ordered in the intervening period since the fire.

James Jones & Sons Ltd benefits from being a multi site operation and remedial actions have been taken to minimise the impact on sales and production schedules. The other sawline at Lockerbie is now operating on a two shift basis, the Aboyne sawmill will be changing on to a double shift, Mosstodloch is optimising carcassing volumes and the Group continues to look at all other options available, including the possibility of restarting the mothballed carcassing mill at Dumfries which stopped production last November when Lockerbie III commenced full scale production.

It is a tremendous credit to all of the Group's employees that the company has been able to move quickly to minimise the disruption through additional hours and the move towards new shift patterns. The sales team continue to work proactively with our loyal customer base in order to meet their requirements.