600 Jobs At Risk As Car Parts Maker Goes Bust

Almost 600 jobs have been axed at car parts manufacturer Visteon after one of its subsidiaries in the UK was put into administration.

The American-owned company employed roughly 600 people in its three branches in Basildon, Belfast and Enfield.

Administrator KPMG said it was making an initial 565 staff redundant out of the total workforce. The remaining staff will be kept on to help wind the business down.

Chairman and chief executive Donald Stebbins said: "Despite extensive restructuring efforts, the UK plants have continued to incur substantial losses. Regrettably, having exhausted all options, the Visteon UK board of directors had no alternative but to file for administration."

Mr Stebbins added: "Addressing the unfavourable financial performance of our UK manufacturing operations is an important step in positioning the company for future success.

"Visteon maintains strong engineering, development and services capabilities in the UK, and continues to serve global vehicle manufacturers through our broad manufacturing and engineering resources throughout Europe."

Visteon, which has headquarters in the US said its other UK operations - including Visteon Engineering Services, which employs 400 people - were not in administration.

The division has struggled since Visteon was separated from car giant Ford in 2000, and it is reported it made losses totalling £669 million in the years after the split.

(JM/BMcC)