A Co Tyrone engineering firm has announced it is to cut 90 jobs in the North.
Dungannon-based Powerscreen, a manufacturer of screening and crushing equipment used in the construction, mining and recycling industries, warned employees of possible redundancies in October after recording a fall in orders. The company cut 70 jobs at the end of last year.
Powerscreen, which is owned by US heavy equipment manufacturer Terex Corporation, directly employs almost 500 staff. It also employs a significant number of subcontractors in the North. It is believed that no jobs will be lost at the Terex Finlay plant in Omagh where 300 people are employed.
Established in 1966, Powerscreen was one of the North's leading listed companies until it was rocked by an accounting scandal in the late 1990s.
In 1997, Powerscreen International reported interim pretax profits of £23.6 million. At the end of that year, it launched a share placing which raised £18 million. Barely a month later, The following year it emerged that there were accounting irregularities at one of its subsidiaries in Britain.
It eventually emerged that there was a £46 million black hole in the accounts of its Matbro subsidiary. The accounting scandal resulted in massive losses at the Northern Irish company.
PA
