Staff on short-time working at a local engineering company are to get back to normal hours.

The FG Wilson employees will have their working hours increased from next month, it has been confirmed.

The news follows months of reduced staffing within the engineering firm.

A return to full-time shifts could help prove business conditions are beginning to stabilise in Northern Ireland.

It could also further bolster views the world economy has overcome the worst of the global recession.

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FG Wilson, owned by US construction giant Caterpillar, cut its workforces by around 600 over the last 12 months.

The Larne-based firm said redundancies were a result of a sharp fall in generator demand.

Most of the company's remaining employees were reduced to a four-day working week at the beginning of summer.

In a statement yesterday, FG Wilson said, after monitoring activity, a number of steps have been sanctioned, including a return to full-time working for all salaried staff and management.

This will take effective from October 1 the firm said.

"There has been a slight improvement in terms of orders for some products over the last couple of months which has enabled this decision to revert to full-time working," the statement added.

(PR/BMcc)