Short Brothers to axe 350 jobs
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Your support makes all the difference.SHORT Brothers, the Northern Ireland aerospace firm, is axing 350 jobs at its missile division, it was announced yesterday. The company, now part of Bombardier, the Canadian group, said it had failed to win expected orders for its plant in Castlereagh, Belfast, but it hoped some workers might be redeployed in other areas.
More than 800 people are currently employed in the missile division, which is a joint venture with Thomson CSF of France. When the link-up was announced at the end of 1992, the companies promised that jobs would be safeguarded. In January, Short Brothers cut 429 jobs at both aircraft and missiles factories in Belfast.
The latest job losses will come as a blow in the province as Short Brothers is one of the main employers. About 10 per cent of manufacturing jobs in Northern Ireland are at Shorts or Harland and Wolff, the shipbuilders.
In August Shorts announced its first real profit since it was privatised in 1989. In the previous four years, the company had only been able to report a profit because of government payments to cover losses on contracts entered into before Bombardier bought the firm.
The profit last year was pounds 16.5m before a government payment, which brought pre-tax profits to pounds 33.2m.
Announcing the results, Laurent Beaudoin, chairman, warned of continuing difficulties in the defence market and the commercial aircraft sector.
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