Fears are growing over the future of the jobs of 300 textile workers employed in Northern Ireland by a sole supplier to Marks & Spencer.

Desmonds confirmed that it was carrying out a review of operations in its last remaining factory in the North - a jeans production plant at Newbuildings, Derry.

A spokesman refused to speculate about the result of the review, saying only: "It will be completed as soon as possible. It could be days rather than weeks."

But for the workforce there was a clear message: Desmonds has already shut five factories in Northern Ireland this year with the loss of more than 800 jobs, each after a review of operations.

Work went in January with the closure of factories in Derry and Dungiven, Co Derry, and with the shutdown in May of plants in Omagh, Co Tyrone, Swatragh, Co Derry, and Irvinestown, Co Fermanagh. Price pressures have forced the company to move work abroad.

It has its own plants in Sri Lanka, Turkey and Bangladesh and a number of other joint ventures.

Should the last remaining factory close, it will mark the end of a long history of production of clothing for Marks & Spencer in Northern Ireland.

It would leave Desmonds with fewer than 400 employees in the North, at its headquarters, warehousing and distribution centre at Drumahoe in Derry

When the company announced the closure of the other plants it said had it not moved the work abroad it would have inevitably led to the demise of the firm "to the greater economic detriment of Northern Ireland".