GAZETTE & HERALD: Calne is set to be the UK headquarters of a new trading company following the merger of two businesses.

The news follows the announcement that Group Deceuninck, a worldwide manufacturer of PVC window systems and profiles, will be restructuring its activities in the UK.

Consultation is underway but proposals would see a new trading company called Deceuninck Status created from the merger of Deceuninck UK Ltd and Status Systems Ltd.

The proposals would see the closure of the Status manufacturing site in Belgium with approximately 80 employees out of the 259-strong workforce being affected, with the distribution centre at Calne becoming the UK headquarters.

Non fenestration activities, mainly Deeplas cellular foam profiles, will remain under the management of Deceuninck UK Ltd in Calne. The distribution centres will continue to operate from both their Royton and Calne sites. The Calne site currently employs 134 staff.

Jobs at Calne will not be affected by the closure of the Belgium offices although a spokesman from the company urged caution at this time. He said: "Consultation is still under way and until that finishes at the end of May we won't know exactly what the final details are with regard to how this will affect Calne."