UNCERTAINTY still looms over the future of a Cwmbran ice cream factory which closed last month, despite the brand being bought out.

Loseley Dairy Ice Cream Ltd brands were bought out of administration by Beechdean Farmhouse Dairy Ice Cream, which has revealed plans to double its own turnover to £20m within two years as a result.

A deal signed on May 9 also includes Loseley’s other brands including Thayers, Granelli and Yorkshire Dales, but does not include the facility in Cwmbran.

The factory at Llantarnum Parkway, which employed 83 people, is still in the hands of Portland Business & Financial Solutions, and administrator James Tickell refused to comment on any progress regarding a sale.

Beechdean managing director Andrew Howard said he planned to move away from the competitive own-label sector that Loseley had explored in recent years to produce a “super premium”

product to rival brands such as Haagen Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s.

Loseley products will now be manufactured from Beechdean’s facilities in southeast and northwest England, but the firm said it would target Loseley’s existing customer list and try to work with a Welsh manufacturer to continue the Thayers brand.

Staff at Loseley’s Cwmbran factory said they were told their contracts would end effective immediately on April 19. The firm’s troubles came to a head after private equity backer the Foresight Group withdrew its funding and the firmhad struggled to compete against larger rivals, recording a £4.7 million loss on a turnover of £8.7 million.