Up to 700 jobs are set to be cut at a manufacturing plant in Co Antrim.

US company Caterpillar will close the factory over the next 18 months.

The manufacturer produces generators and employs around 1,600 people in Northern Ireland.

The company says the cutbacks are not related to Brexit or even COVID-19.

Instead, it's part of the company's ongoing plans to improve cost competitiveness.

The cuts will affect workers in Larne in Co Antrim.

It will not affect the workforce it has in Belfast, however, the company is considering selling its building there.

If that sale is agreed the remaining employees in west Belfast would be "relocated" to another area of Antrim.

Reporting by Ben Finnegan 

Main image: A Caterpillar (CAT) brand portable generator at a facility in Lafayette, California. Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Sipa USA