THE future is looking bleak for more than 100 workers at a Hampshire chocolate factory despite top-level talks between company bosses and a Government minister.

Staff at Bendicks on the Winnall Industrial Estate in Winchester were today bracing themselves for the worst after the firm’s management stood firm over plans to move production to Germany.

Thomas Huber, managing director at Bendicks’ parent company Storck UK, met Winchester MP Steve Brine, small-business minister Mark Prisk and officials at the Department for Business in Whitehall yesterday.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Brine told the Daily Echo, which revealed the closure plan earlier this month: “It was good to get the company in front of the minister, which is what the Prime Minister promised to do when I raised this with him a few weeks back.

“Storck UK were at great pains to stress to us that no final decision has been taken about Winchester but shared some pretty grim figures with us in commercial confidence which I have to say don’t bode well. They made it clear the Winchester and wider UK business environment was not to blame but the point remains their Winnall factory is not profitmaking.

“I fear in spite of everyone’s best efforts we may be bracing ourselves for bad news next month.”

He added that Mr Prisk had offered a form of partner-working to save production in Winchester after Storck bosses revealed that their labour costs would be higher in Germany than the UK.

However, the underlying problem of Bendicks’ poor sales in Britain was the main driving force behind the decision to move, he said.

As revealed by the Daily Echo, calls have been made for Bendicks to be stripped of its royal warrant if it closes the Winchester factory with the loss of 115 jobs.