A LONG-established Bury textile company is investing £1 million to maintain its manufacturing presence in the town, just three months after making 50 staff redundant.

P & S Textiles is laying firm foundations for the future by changing some of its product lines and merging operations from two sites in Hornby Street in to one.

The company, which has been trading since 1836, was bought six years ago by Wetherby-based Arville Textiles from the Scapa Group.

Despite the earlier job losses, P & S operations director Mr Tim Baxter is confident that the firm can continue production in the town.

"We are trying our best to maintain a manufacturing presence in east Bury.

"We are currently going through a major £1 investment programme and changing some of our product lines.

"Those which are not most profitable are being stopped."

Commenting on the 50 redundancies implemented in July, he said: "These were across all departments.

"We are changing set product lines and the new product lines do not require the same amount of labour."

Previously, P & S Textiles, a specialist in the manufacture of industrial textiles, occupied 200,000 sq ft of manufacturing accommodation over two sites.

However, the older of the two buildings is shutting and is up for sale. Part of the £1 million investment involves refurbishing the newer factory.

"This is an ongoing, four month programme," continued Mr Baxter.

"Since taking over, Arville have invested heavily in the business. We now have a workforce of 60 on site."

Looking to the future, he concluded: "We want to protect and establish a long-term future. At the moment, we're not doing too badly and keeping up with changes in the market place."