ERR News - The company that operates the 153-year-old Kreenholm textile factory, one of the largest and longest-running enterprises in Narva, is going into bankruptcy.
Swedish textile company Boras Wäfveri on Wednesday announced that it is filing for bankruptcy for its Narva subsidiary, Kreenholmi Valduse AS, a move that will put approximately 500 employees out of work in the economically troubled city of 66,000.
In the announcement Boras Wäfveri said that despite taking cost-cutting measures the factory was continuing to operate at a loss. It also cited the rising price of cotton and a decrease in orders as reasons for the company's troubles, rus.err.ee reported.
The head of the factory's union said that there had been no warning of the move.
Losses for Kreenholm in 2007 reached 3.3 million euros and in 2008, just under 50,000 euros.
Established in 1857 and nationalized during the Soviet period, Kreenholm had been one of the largest enterprises in northeast Estonia, employing over 11,000 people in 1980. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union however, its various owners have struggled to maintain the factory's viability.