ALLIED Steel & Wire's Sheerness plant will continue to operate as normal until its annual two week shut down in August, when the situation will be reviewed, despite Wednesday's decision by receivers KPMG to issue redundancy notices to 800 ASW workers in Cardiff by the end of this month.

The receivers are in discussions with at least one potential buyer. The Cardiff decision was taken notwithstanding the workforce's willingness to agree to a series of cost cutting measures to keep the plant running until it was sold.

Michael Leahy, general secretary of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation (ISTC) said it was devastating news for the workers and their families as well as the thousands of people in the Cardiff area dependent on the plant.

ASW Holdings plc announced that it had gone in to receivership on July 10 due to a £65 million debt brought about by trading difficulties over the last six months. Roger Oldfield, KPMG partner said: "The group has suffered from the strength of the pound and has also been badly hit by cheaper products from overseas and the impact of the US tariffs on steel imports."