MORE than 100 jobs have been axed at Suffolk-based powdered metal components firm BSA Advanced Sintering, which has been in administration since last October.
MORE than 100 jobs have been axed at Suffolk-based powdered metal components firm BSA Advanced Sintering, which has been in administration since last October.
A spokesman for the administrators, accountancy firm Ernst & Young, said that a total of 104 people had been made redundant, although efforts to find a buyer for the business was continuing.
An associated company on the site, the Oilite Bearnings Company, was also still operating as a going concern, he added.
When BSA Advanced Sintering went into administration it is understood to have had a workforce of about 150.
It was the fifth company in the Midlands-based BSA group to go into insolvency proceedings in a move blamed on the faltering European automotive market and competition from rival suppliers in emerging economies.
The four other companies, including the BSA Holdings, the group's parent company, went into receivership, but the administrators at BSE Advanced Sintering in Ipswich initially expressed optimism about finding a buyer.
BSA Holdings was formed in 2003 by a trio of investment bankers to acquire the components businesses of the Manganese Bronze group - the firm which makes traditional London taxis - in a deal valued at £8.5million.
The trading identity represented a revival of one of the most famous names in British motoring history, although the BSA initials were originally derived from the Birmingham Small Arms Co Ltd which was created by a group of master gunsmiths at the time of the Crimean War.
The business went on to become most associated with motorcycles although it was also involved in car production for a time.
The present day group has supplied customers across a wide range of industries including civil engineering, healthcare, nuclear power, pharmaceuticals, brewing and food, aerospace and air conditioning/refrigeration, although the automotive sector remained critical to its success.
Vehicle manufacturers supplied with components from the Ipswich plant over the years include Range Rover, Porsche, Volkswagen, Audi and Honda.
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