A Swedish-based business has confirmed it is closing a UK factory with the loss of 300 jobs after more than a century of manufacturing. SKF began production in Luton in 1911, under the name Skefko Ball Bearing Company, the company's first site outside Sweden. The company, which used to be Luton Town FC's shirt sponsor, said the closure was part of a "consolidation of the group’s spherical roller bearing manufacturing to secure the long-term competitiveness on the European markets."