A Welshpool dessert company has shut its factory and placed its 400 workers on temporary leave amid the coronavirus outbreak.

When the government closed pubs and restaurants down to help prevent the spread of the disease, the cakes and desserts manufacturer was left without any customers.

Now it has closed its Henfaes Lane factory for an initial three-week period.

The company initially released its agency staff and began to consult on redundancies before the Government announced its furlough scheme to support people who were out of work during the crisis.

Now the company has instead placed staff on furlough leave, under which the state will pay 80 per cent of salaries. Its agency staff have been laid off, however, with the intention of protecting full-time staff.

Phil Cummings, Sidoli's managing director, said: "There's a lot of uncertainly but we fully believe we will come out of this stronger and in a better place.

"We've had to continue with the process, but no one has been made redundant."

He added: "Sidoli's is a family business and we're fully committed to our staff."

The Sidoli factory shut and its workers put on furlough on Monday, March 30. As well as financial reasons, the decision was also made to in order to follow government advice to limit travel and to enforce social distancing.

During this initial three-week period, Sidoli says it will continue to maintain contact with all customers and colleagues with a number of key staff working from home.

"Our aim is to protect the business during these unprecedented and exceptional circumstances and to work to ensure we come out of this stronger and in the position to react to the reopening of our customers and the country," Mr Cummings added.

"As a family owned business that has been built by Mr Sidoli on this site over nearly 40 years we are fully committed to continue this growth and maintain our strong market position after the Covid 19 epidemic is brought under control.

"In line with the rest of the UK and world we await clarity on the potential length and severity of the pandemic and will then make the necessary decisions to support our colleague’s customers and the business in these uncertain and exceptional times."