ELECTRONICS company Filtronic yesterday confirmed it has re-started a consultation process that began earlier this year over the loss of 115 jobs.

The confirmation came in a memo to staff working for its compound semiconductors division, in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.

Filtronic, which makes microchips for mobile phones and other related products, announced in June that it was consulting over the job losses.

But after securing short-term orders for the plant, creating work until March, the process was suspended.

Yesterday, Filtronic said it was always intended that the consultation process would start again this month.

Last Friday, Filtronic said it had reached non-binding heads of terms with a "selected party"

in relation to the sale of its compound semiconductor business.

The identity of the buyer has remained a mystery because of confidentiality clauses in the agreement.

A spokesman for Filtronic said: "The memo circulated to staff at Newton Aycliffe made clear that the company's position on staffing levels had not changed.

"A consultation process with staff, that was announced on June 25 as a result of reduced customer requirements, was suspended due to the winning of additional business for the plant through to March. Staff were previously told that this process would be restarted in December this year.

"Filtronic are currently in discussion with customers on the level of future business beyond March and expect to make future plans accordingly.

"The business is being sold as an ongoing concern, but it is also important to note Filtronic has agreed heads of terms and are in a period of due diligence - the business has not yet been sold."

At the time of the initial announcement over the consultation process in June, 319 people were employed at theAycliffe plant.

Staff yesterday contacted The Northern Echo to express their concerns.

One said: "It looks like there will be redundancies."

A cloud has hung over the plant since West Yorkshire-based Filtronic scaled back a £45m planned expansion to triple the expansion of the factory.

Thirty-one jobs were then axed in May.

Filtronic's last set of annual results, released in July, showed the compound semi-conductors division recorded annual losses