THE Co Derry shirt manufacturer Coats Viyella has saved 250 of the 380 jobs which have been under threat at its factory at Maydown.
The company announced two weeks ago that jobs were at risk following a decision to import more shirts from overseas.
Following intense negotiations, the company has announced that most of the jobs will be saved through redeployment.
A spokesman for Coats Viyella said, that 180 of the jobs would be transferred to the company's home furnishings project, while another 70 were being transferred to another factory at Glenaden.
Meanwhile, the parent company of a number of Northern Ireland textile subsidiaries has said that it is to increase its "offshore" manufacturing after disappointing halfyear results.
Courtaulds Textiles, which owns the clothing and lingerie manufacturer Daintifyt, Stewart Boughton, and Courtaulds Jersey, lost £6.5 million during the first half of 1996. That compares with profits of £6.4 million for the same period a year ago.
The group employs 1,500 people in Cookstown, Limavady, Markethill, Irvinestown, Gortin, Armagh and Lurgan.
. Lurgan textile manufacturer McCaw Allan has announced that it is to invest £240,000 in a move to new premises and on new equipment to improve efficiency and increase sales.
Managing director Mr Stanley Hadden, who recently bought out the interest held in the company by the McCaw family, said he aimed to increase sales by 50 per cent over the next 18 months.
