Grantham's last remaining malt company is to close next month.

The Australian owners of Baird's Malt announced the closure yesterday, which is understood to involve the loss of 15 jobs.

The Grantham operations on Springfield Road opened in 1964 and specialises in brewing malts to make beer.

United Malt said instead it would continue with its investment programme to expand its operations at Arbroath and Inverness in Scotland.

Malt production would also be 'consolidated' at Witham in Essex and Arbroath.

The operational capacity at Grantham has been approximately 14,000 metric tonnes, for the past 2.5 years, suppling malt for the distilling and brewing markets.

United Malt CEO, Mark Palmquist said: "We do not take the decision to close any facility lightly and we fully appreciate the impact this has on our people at Grantham and the community.

"We will ensure our people at Grantham are supported throughout this process and they will receive their full entitlements.

"The transfer of malt production to the Witham and Arbroath sites will provide greater unit cost efficiency while ensuring we continue to fully supply our distilling and brewing customers across the region with quality ingredients," he said.

United Malt said it expects to incur a non-cash impairment of A$2 million (£1.1 million), together with site redundancy costs of approximately A$1 million in FY21.

United Malt confirmed that commissioning of the Arbroath facility is underway, and the plant will commence commercial production in February, with 22,000 metric tonne capacity per annum coming online.

Construction at the Inverness site is continuing amidst the COVID-19 backdrop.

However, due to Government regulations requiring increased social distancing on site with limitations to the number of trades on site, it is now expected that completion of the expansion project will be delayed to May 2022 from the original schedule of end of calendar 2021, the company added.