CO2 closure crisis firm pays £185m to investors

THE American firm that shut two factories, raising fears Britain would run out of vital carbon dioxide (CO2) used in food production, has handed its shareholders £185million.

CF Industries hailed ‘outstanding results’ as it dished out the money to its investors in the US, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

CO2 is used for everything from the humane slaughter of chickens and pigs, to putting the fizz in soft drinks and into packaged salads to keep them fresh.

The group’s shock closures in Ince, Cheshire, and Billingham, Teesside, last summer cut off 40 per cent of the UK’s carbon dioxide supplies, which sparked shortages of some food and drink items.

It had blamed closures on soaring energy costs. But it told shareholders earlier this month it had benefited from global supply shortages, stoking demand for its products.

UK Ministers were forced to step in with a state subsidy for CF Industries last year. The aid did not stop the company permanently shutting its plant in Ince seven months later. That was followed by a controversial announcement in August that CF would also halt production at its Billingham plant.

Labour MP Justin Madders, whose constituency includes Ince, said CF’s huge dividends ‘will add insult to injury’, given that food inflation is soaring.

CF Industries was contacted for comment.