A MALLUSK, Co Antrim, stationery company taken over last summer by the English company Nottingham Group Holdings, has made half its staff redundant. The education company Edco has laid off 35 of its 70 employees because of what managing director Ms Joan Ruddock described as a duplication of functions"

Mrs Ruddock said the company was now concentrating on its retail business. marketing and customer care. Edco had been jointly owned by the Northern Publishing Office and the Jefferson Smurfit Group. ft was sold to Nottingham Group Holdings last June for £3.5 million sterling.