FIVE Northern Ireland subsidiaries of the British textile giant, Coats Viyella, are to be included in a widespread group restructuring programme to be implemented later this year.
Coats Viyella has said that the majority of any job losses would be outside Britain and Northern Ireland.
But the group employs more than 2,000 people in Northern Ireland and there are fears' that some cutbacks could result from the company's plans to "implement a thorough reorganisation of areas which it believes are underperforming".
A spokesman said there were 50 projects affected by the restructuring, but he refused to say where they were.
The group issued a profits warning towards the end of last year. It claimed that the fall in demand for winter clothing because of the warm weather would inevitably mean that some factories in Northern Ireland would be less profitable than in previous years.
The group recently announced that pre tax profits had increased from £105 million in 1994 to £163 million last year. However, profits before exceptional items fell from £152 million to £143 million.
It has made a provision of £50 million in this year's accounts to cover write offs on machinery and the cost of job losses in its workforce of 74,000 worldwide.
The group's Northern Ireland subsidiaries include: Ewart Liddell; Sir Richard Arkwright in Lisnaskea, which produces sewing threads; and Ambler of Ballyclare, makers of acrylic yarn.
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