The Belfast engineering firm, Mackie International, is in the process of buying the English company Shield for around £10 million (#14.20 million), it was learned yesterday. The Leicester-based firm made a loss of £6 million in 1996, but has improved its performance over the last 18 months. In 1997, it made a loss of £1.7 million. A spokesman for Mackies, Mr Mark Hutcheon, said they were confident that their acquisition of Shield would re-enforce this upward trend.

Mackies hopes to benefit from Shield's strong customer base in England. The company is a market leader in the production of castings and finished machine parts for engine and car manufacturers, an area into which Mackie has recently been expanding.

Mr Hutcheon said that Mackie was moving away from its traditional field of making machinery for the textile industry. "There is no capacity for profit in the manufacture of textile machinery any longer. We believe our future lies in the production of machine parts and castings," he said. Mr Hutcheon said that one rationale behind Mackies' acquisition of Shield was to make "maximum use" of its newly built Belfast foundry. The foundry is currently not used to maximum capacity. "It will make sense to have everything on one site," Mr Hutcheon said. The acquisition would not lead to any new jobs in Belfast, he added.

The North's Industrial Development Board as well as several banks will provide the capital for Mackies to finance its purchase. The deal is expected to be finalised in the next ten days.

(# signifies the euro)