One of Northern Ireland's oldest engineering companies yesterday announced it was cutting the workforce by more than half and moving to smaller premises.

The survival plan by Howden Sirocco was revealed to employees as the company fought to come to terms with changing international markets.

The firm, which once employed more than 1,500 people in its east Belfast factory, is reducing its present workforce by 72 over the next few weeks, leaving little more than 60 still in work.

The company produces giant fans and heat exchangers for industrial customers such as coal-fired power stations.

But a spokesman said the market for coal-fired stations in Britain and Europe had virtually gone and the only markets were in Asia and around the Pacific Rim.