A British-owned greeting cards manufacturing plant in Rathfarnham, Co Dublin, is to close with the loss of 140 jobs. The owner of the factory, Burgess, is to concentrate production in an existing factory in Oxfordshire, England. It has said that this is necessary to maintain its competitive position in the market.

The closure of the Rathfarnham factory is to take place over a nine-month period to the end of September 2000. The company has begun consultations with its employees and their representatives, who were informed of the decision yesterday. Plant manager Mr John Sheeran said closing the plant "has been a very tough decision and the job losses which will result from this closure are deeply regretted. This move is driven entirely by commercial reality". He said that the company had started an intensive consultation process with its employees and their representatives and that "everything possible would be done to mitigate the effects of the job losses for those involved."

Mr Brian Dudley, the chief executive of the Burgess holding company, Bezier Ltd, said creating a one-site manufacturing configuration was a necessity if the company was to maintain its lead in the market.

"We chose to concentrate our business in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, because it can develop the capacity to handle our entire business, has a high profile in the greetings card sector and is closest to our customer base."

The Rathfarnham business has been in operation for more than 20 years. Previously part of the Wace group, it changed its name to Burgess two years ago following a buyout by Bezier.

The plant finishes greeting cards, the production of which is started at the Abingdon plant. The cards then returned to England for distribution. Hallmark Cards is among the clients for whom cards are printed.