ABOUT 270 jobs are under threat at kitchen equipment firm Aga Foodservice as it prepares to reshuffle its manufacturing business.

The group is considering pulling out of production of eye-level and slot-in gas cookers at its plant in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.

Aga instead wants to focus on its traditional top-of-the-range units and building up its share of the export market.

Profit margins on "entry level" gas units, sold under the Leisure Cooker and Flavel brands, have been hit by competition on the high street.

Chief executive William McGrath said a buyer may be found to take on the production, but a third of Aga's staff at Leamington Spa could lose their jobs.

Aga employs 800 staff at its Leamington Spa site, out of a total workforce of 3,000 in the UK and the US