According to local paper Hull Daily Mail, the plastic and fibre products supplier bought the 183-year-old plant from Harlands in January, but is now moving all of its print operations to South Wales.

The company reportedly sent letters to workers saying that fewer and larger sites would provide a competitive advantage and enable revenue and profit growth.

Production at the plant is expected to end before Christmas and a 30-day consultation with workers has now begun at the Hull factory.

Essentra published its results for the first half of 2015 last week. It made an £82m operating profit in the period, while its turnover rose by 28% to £550m.

The plant move is part of the firm’s plan to expand through both acquisitions and by growing existing operations. Earlier this year it acquired the healthcare carton and labelling business of Clondalkin.

In a statement on the firm’s results, Essentra chief executive Colin Day said: “We have made a solid start to our 'Drive for 2020' strategy, and will exceed £1bn of revenue this year for the first time in the company’s history.

“Having completed the acquisition of Clondalkin SPD on 30 January 2015 – Essentra’s largest transaction to date – we have made significant progress with the integration in the first five months of ownership.

“As such, we are confident of substantially exceeding our ingoing expectation as to potential synergy savings, raising the target by 50% to at least US$24m (£15.5m) on an annualised basis from 2016, and thus rapidly enhancing the margin towards the company average.”

PrintWeek was unable to reach Essentra for further comment at the time of writing.