14 July 2016

Coats, the world's leading industrial thread manufacturer and a major player in the Americas textile crafts market, is to close Coats Crafts UK, its UK crafts business.

All Coats Crafts UK customers are being contacted about the closure, with most operations to have ceased by October 2016. Coats Crafts UK will work hard with its customers to help ensure continuity of supply and the transition to alternative distributers. Customers will be able to source the well known brands and products - such as Rowan, Patons, Milward, Anchor and Red Heart - that they have traditionally obtained from Coats via other suppliers.

Anna Mitchell, Managing Director, Coats Crafts UK, said: 'Coats is proud of its UK heritage and long association supporting UK based crafters and would like to thank all of our employees and customers, past and present, for their loyalty to our products and company.'

Coats customers can contact the Coats customer service line on 01484 691544 until 30 September 2016.

The Coats Americas Crafts business is not affected by the situation in the UK.

This decision is entirely independent of the results of the EU Referendum and the employee consultation process was started before the vote was held.

ENDS

For more information contact:
Kristina Blissett, Head of Communications kristina.blissett@coats.com
T +44 (0)208 210 5084, M +44 (0)7714 539887

Notes to Editors

About Coats

Coats is the world's leading industrial thread manufacturer and a major player in the Americas textile crafts market. At home in more than 60 countries, Coats employs 19,000 people across six continents. Revenues in 2015 were US$1.5bn.

Coats' pioneering history and innovative culture ensure the company leads the way around the world: providing complementary and value added products and services to the apparel and footwear industries; applying innovative techniques to develop high technology Speciality threads and yarns in areas such as automotive and fibre optics; and extending the crafts offer into new markets and online.

Headquartered in the UK, Coats has a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange.

  • Each year we make enough thread to go into 8 billion pair of jeans - that's one for every person on the planet
  • Every month Coats produces enough thread to stretch all the way to the sun
  • More than 450 million pairs of shoes are made every year using Coats' thread
  • More than 100 million car airbags are made using Coats' Speciality thread every year
  • In 1879 Thomas Edison used Coats' thread in his experiments to invent the light bulb
  • We're experts in colour, last year we dyed thread and yarn in more than 150,000 different colours for our customers
  • Our Red Heart knitting and crochet yarn brand has been named 'America's Most Recommended' by the Women's Choice Award
  • Our flame retardant Speciality threads can withstand temperatures as high as 1,000 degrees Celsius
  • Coats is the second largest supplier of zips to global brands

Coats Group plc published this content on 14 July 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 14 July 2016 08:53:02 UTC.

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