A STRUGGLING Scots firm is to shut its Ayrshire operations, with the loss of 420 jobs.

Electronics manufacturer Simclar today shut its plants in Irvine and Kilwinning with immediate effect.

The axe comes just weeks after 200 of the firm's Irvine workforce were told they were going to be laid off. The latest bodyblow for Scotland's employment prospects comes just two weeks after 650 jobs were lost at the NCR factory in Dundee.

The Ayrshire staff were told of the closure at a meeting with management this morning.

Parent company Simclar Group Ltd will continue to employ around 300 workers at its Dunfermline HQ.

A spokesman said: "The current market conditions have made the continued operation of Simclar (Ayrshire) impossible.

"Simclar has made every attempt to restructure and save the business, but it would not be in the best interests of the group as a whole to continue to do so in the long term.

"The recent loss of a key contract, rising costs of production and relentless market pressures have made continuing unsustainable."

The Ayrshire firm has now gone into administration and notice has been lodged with the Court of Session. Simclar took over Fullarton Computer Industries in 2002.

Simclar Group has manufacturing plants in China, Mexico and the US, with a global workforce of 1800.

It announced in November that it was to withdraw from hard-tooling manufacturing with the loss of 200 jobs at the Irvine plant.

The company said that "recent uncertainty" among its major customers led to the further cuts.

Bosses will now liaise with local enterprise and employment agencies in a bid to help workers secure new opportunities.

Central Ayrshire Labour MP Brian Donohoe met management and trade union representatives today.

He said staff were "devastated" by Simclar's decision, which he said was directly linked to the NCR redundancies in Dundee.

Mr Donohoe added: "Both companies were feeding off one another. When NCR went down, it was the last blow for Simclar - it threatened everything else.

"I'm going to try to get a meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss the situation. MSP Irene Oldfather is going to do the same with First Minister Jack McConnell and his deputy, Nicol Stephen."