A TROUBLED circuit board company has shed more than 100 jobs since going into administration last month.

Yesterday, administrators at South Shields-based Circatex made another 86 redundancies, on top of the 15 jobs that have already been lost.

Circatex has been trading at full capacity for six weeks but due to "changing demands" from key customers, administrators at Ernst & Young said they had to take the decision to cut jobs.

Joint administrator Charles King said: "As a result of changing order patterns of some of the high-volume customers, it was apparent that the business could not continue to operate at its existing level of capacity. We have had discussions with remaining customers and have their support for ongoing trading at a reduced level of capacity.

"Until now, we have been able to maintain the direct workforce at the levels that existed at the date of our appointment, to deal with the lower margin, high volume workflows.

"However, as a consequence of the changed order levels, unfortunately it has now been necessary to make redundancies in the direct workforce. We have arranged for our own employee specialists together with representatives from Jobcentre Plus and South Tyneside Council to be on site to provide advice and assistance to the affected employees.

"We are continuing to have discussions regarding a sale of the business and remain hopeful that a sale can be achieved that will see a leaner and more sustainable business emerging, based on fast turnaround, lower volume and higher margin business. We appreciate the support of Circatex's employees, customers and suppliers during the administration."

Circatex's demise was blamed on rising energy costs and a loss-making contract.