WORKERS at a North-East chromium plant will discover by the end of June if they are to keep their jobs.

About 120 workers are facing an uncertain future after Elementis Chromium announced in February that it was reviewing whether to keep its plant at Urlay Nook, near Eaglescliffe, on Teesside, open. In an interim management statement, coinciding with the company’s annual meeting yesterday, it said: “The strategic review and consultation process announced in February, relating to the UK facility, is progressing and the company expects to announce the outcome before the end of June. Sales volumes in the first three months of 2009 for Chromium’s remaining USbased business were 53 per cent lower than the same period last year.” The Teesside factory, which makes products used to coat metals and tan leather, had been hit by competition from China.

HIGH FLIER: Pricewater houseCoopers (PwC), which has an office in Newcastle, has been named the accountancy sector and finance sector employer of the year in The Times annual High Fliers Top Graduate Employers survey. PwC is the first organisation to win two sector categories simultaneously. The firm, which is recruiting 1,000 graduates this year, including 21 in Newcastle, has achieved top accountancy employer for ten consecutive years in the survey, which gauges opinions from 16,000 students across the UK.

TRADING UPDATE: Green services support company eaga, which employs 1,500 people in the North-East, said trading had been in line with its expectations during the first part of this year. In an interim management statement the Newcastlebased company said it had made good progress between December and April.