A NEW production line will open this month at a North-East solar glass firm that was on the brink of closing little more than six months ago.

The jobs of 161 workers at Romag, in Leadgate, near Consett, County Durham, were saved when Wearside housing developer Gentoo bought the company, which was facing a cash crisis, in April.

In January, Romag's shares were suspended from trading on the Stock Exchange after it emerged that ex-chairman John Kennair had made a £3.97m payment to help balance the books without informing the board.

In June Romag announced it would take on 20 more staff and install a third production line.

Yesterday the firm said work on the production line, costing more than £1m, had been completed and would treble its production capacity.

Romag said the investmnet demonstrated its commitment to the manufacturing plant here and the future of solar panel technology.