Up to 90 jobs are to be lost at the Derry-based company Maydown Precision Engineering following a fall-off in orders. Workers at the plant were told of the decision just two months after they had agreed to a cut in working hours to prevent 100 layoffs. At the time, the managing director, Mr Jim Bradshaw, described the measure as necessary to get the company over what he called "a temporary blip". It is the second setback for industry in the city this year, following the closure in June of the United Technologies plant, with the loss of 600 jobs.

Maydown, which is part-owned by the Belfast aerospace company Shorts, was set up in the mid-1980s. It was previously owned by the Molin's engineering group.