NINETEEN managers and administrative staff are being made redundant at Christchurch-based Beagle Aircraft under restructuring plans by its parent group.

The job losses equate to 7.6 per cent of the 250-strong firm which manufactures airframe and other structural components for Tornado, Hawk and Jaguar jet fighters.

This follows the takeover of Beagle's parent company, Dowty, whose owner, the TI Group, merged last month with the Smith Group, one of the oldest names in British engineering with businesses from aerospace engineering to hi-tech medical instruments.

Beagle, of Stony Lane, Christchurch, has a turnover of up to £20 million. It is one of the Solent-based Hamble Group of Companies owned by Dowty.

Dowty communications and administration director Tim Davis said: "Beagle is in a very competitive market.

"There has been a lack of growth in the short term. It is necessary to restructure and refocus."

But the redundancies were not due to a duplication of functions with other Smith Group companies.

"Beagle is a stand-alone business. It is its own profit centre," he said.