Corby's Avon site to be sold and workers transferred to new firm

Corby’s flagship Earlstrees Road Avon site is to be sold to a German company with the promise of huge investment in the site.

The warehouse – which is wholly owned by the cosmetics giant – will be sold to logistics giant Arvato. This will provide a cash injection for Avon as well as the pledge of millions of pounds to update the site.

It means that Avon operations workers in Corby will now be employed by Arvato. No details of any potential redundancies have been revealed by the firm.

The international cosmetics giant moved into its new large warehouse in Earlstrees Road in 1992 as part of the post-industrial rebirth of the town.

This evening (Monday, April 8) Avon announced it had started proceedings to sell the site.

The company is a global services logistics provider, part of Bertelsmann Group, operating across several industries and countries

Arvato is already Avon’s partner in Italy for operations and transport and the purchase of the Avon site would mean a multi-million pound investment in Corby – although the firm did not specify exactly how much would be ploughed into the site.

Avon, which is a multi-level marketing company selling its products through a team of mainly female ‘representatives’, says it has had a distributor presence in Corby for more than 55 years.

They said that the sale to Arvato will mean ‘making improvements in technology and processes fit for the digital age’.

UK Avon general manager Alex Long said: “As we continue with the business transformation at Avon, we can also reflect on our history in Corby with pride. The progress towards outsourcing is a very common process in large companies and this sale will mean a positive, long-term investment in the Corby site with a business as usual service for our representatives and customers.”

Avon used to manufacture its products in Northamptonshire but moved production offshore in 2003. At that time there were more than 700 people working at the Corby site, but that had dwindled to just over 240 by 2018. Last year more than 60 redundancies were announced when Body Shop stopped using the Corby site for its logistics.

Arvato’s UK managing director Tobias Uthmann said: “We’re happy to welcome Corby to our global Arvato family and our international network. The acquisition of the site is part of our international growth strategy. It will not only enhance our global footprint, but also help us to improve processes and develop further growth together with our client Avon.