CHEMICAL manufacturing has been undertaken at the Grosvenor site for more than 30 years.
Employers of 70 people, Grosvenor Works, Manchester Road, had been used for a variety of businesses, including rug manufacturing, before it was acquired by Crewe Chemicals in 1976.
When that firm went into receivership in 1980, the site was bought by trading company Mirfield Sales Services Ltd, which set up Pennine Chemical Services.
The Linthwaite site employs about 70 people and has annual turnover totalling about £10m.
The company specialises in formulating and packing insecticides, fungicides and weedkillers as well as non-agrochemicals such as sun creams, hair lacquers and hangover cures.
Other facilities include a quality control laboratory and a research and development team.
The company is part of the £100m-turnover Whyte Group, formed in 1976 and based at Finchley, north London.
It is one of the largest privately-owned distributors of chemicals in the UK with operations covering surface coatings, organic chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Along with Grosvenor Chemicals, the group has firms in Spain, France, Holland, Czech Republic, Brazil and Dubai as well as representatives in India, Korea, Taiwan, China and Japan.
It is also a joint venture partner in Shanghai Whyte Asia Pioneer Pharmaceuticals Ltd, a company producing raw materials for antibiotics.
