LATE NEWS

Compaq will axe 500 staff from its manufacturing facilities in Scotland following the Compaq, Digital and Tandem merger. The Tandem plant in Stirling will close, Digital's PC production will move from Irvine to Erskine and Compaq services will relocate to Irvine from Erskine.

George Devlin, vice president of Compaq's EMEA operations, stated: 'We greatly regret any job losses but, unfortunately, in streamlining our combined organisation ... we have to reduce our workforce around the world and this obviously has an impact in Scotland.'