£5m investment to create 15 new jobs

Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster made the announcement during a visit to South Derry company, which is a manufacturer of high precision machined components for a range of sectors including aerospace, automotive, medical devices and power generation.

This investment will also safeguard a further 20, taking the total employment in Castledawson to 117. Invest Northern Ireland has offered £616,500 of support towards the investment with part funding from the European Regional Development Fund.

Ms Foster said: “Moyola is one of our local success stories, having substantially enhanced capability in recent years through its continual investment in state-of-the-art manufacturing, design technology and staff development.

“This new investment represents a major step towards establishing Moyola firmly in the global aerospace supply chain by developing its capability in design, manufacturing and assembly operations.”

“The salaries generated by this project will be almost £800,000 a year and will be above the Northern Ireland private sector median, providing high valued engineering jobs that the Programme for Government is seeking to create in order to rebalance and rebuild our economy.”

Continuing the Minister said that the aerospace sector is an important one in the UK being the global No.2 player behind the USA.

Mark Semple, Managing Director of Moyola Precision Engineering, said: “This investment will allow us to reconfigure our site to accommodate larger, more complex machining centres and to install new high technology equipment. This in turn will allow us to target higher value added and more complex projects.”

Magherafelt District Council Chairman, Councillor Paul McLean welcomed the announcement.

He said Moyola Precision Engineering had always been a pro-active local company and he congratulated them on their success.

“This is good news that jobs are being created and others safeguarded in a time of economic gloom,” he added.