A PROFITS warning knocked tens of millions of pounds off the stock market value of one East Lancashire's biggest employers this morning.

Scapa Group plc warned that the strong pound and the cost of a shake-up in some its businesses could reduce profits by 12 per cent.

The news comes just weeks after around 75 job cuts were announced, together with a the loss of a number of senior managers, at the firm's Scapa-Scandia paper machine textiles factory at Cartmell Road, Blackburn.

Its parent group, based on Preston New Road, Blackburn, said a number of factors had conspired to hit profits in the year to March 31 1998.

A reorganisation of its North American and European paper machine clothing division - of which Scapa-Scandia is a part - had forced the firm to close certain sites and cut jobs.

The company said the estimated costs of the reorganisation would be £28 million. Shares fell by 11 per cent to 194p when the news of the profit warning was announced.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.