UP to 150 jobs could be lost at the BICC site in Prescot following the company's acquisition by Pirelli.

As part of a comprehensive restructuring plan manufacturing will continue at the Prescot site, which currently employs about 440 staff. But "efficiency improvements" by the end of the year will see the BICC head office functions integrated into the existing Pirelli offices at Eastleigh, Hampshire resulting in the loss of about 150 jobs in Prescot.

John Tierney, human resources director for Pirelli Cables, said: "All the redundancies are part of a company-wide programme of increasing efficiency and profitability. We are sorry that the combined business has to lose 900 jobs in total, but that number is over six locations across the company and is out of an employment total of almost 3,500. The company will make every effort to assist those employees affected by these actions to secure suitable alternative employment."