June 4 will mark the end of Bermuda Bakery?s 80 years of baking bread for the Island ? it also means that 22 staff will lose their jobs.

The job cuts were expected, after Bermuda Bakery announced last August that it would close its bakery division and have to let staff go.

In a press statement yesterday announcing the close, the company once again said its decision to close down that unit was due to continued declining sales, escalating costs and unsustainable losses from the bakery division.

Acting general manager Eric Vauhkonen said: ?Closing the bakery division marks the end of an era and a proud tradition for the company overall.?

He added that Bermuda Bakery, which will continue in other areas of business including the management of its real estate concerns, would do ?all it can to help those affected? by the job cuts.

That was said to include severance packages in keeping with any collective agreements, company policies and the Employment Act.

Former general manager, the late John Massa, was the first to announce the bakery?s closing last year. He died earlier this year.

Bermuda Bakery, which is a publicly listed company on the Bermuda Stock Exchange, said some of the breads, rolls and pastry items it had become known for during its long history would continue to be made by a purchaser.

Board vice-chairman David White said: ?As part of the decisions to close, we have completed negotiations with a company to be known as Bermuda Breads Ltd. for the purchase of some of the bakery division assets.?

In addition, the company said it was working with its suppliers of imported breads to ?ensure an ample supply of quality bread and baked good products such as ButterCrust, Nature?s Own and Roman Meal are available? throughout the transition period between the two companies.

The company did not say what it intended to do with the proceeds from the sale of bakery division assets to Bermuda Breads Ltd.