IT was another day of mixed fortunes for the North-East economy yesterday.

MFI is to create more than 90 jobs at its Hygena plant in Stockton.

Britain's biggest manufacturer and retailer of kitchens and bathrooms has announced an investment of £2m in a new vinyl finishing line at its Concorde Way plant.

But there was bad news elsewhere.

Cammell Laird's remaining shipyards on Tyneside and Birkenhead are to be mothballed when work runs out next month.

The two yards will share the same fate as the Teesside yard, after receivers PriceWaterhouseCoopers failed to find a buyer for the business.

The receivers said yesterday that it was now "unlikely" that the yards would be sold as going concerns.

About 160 workers remain at the Hebburn yard on Tyneside, while 360 are still at Birkenhead.

The Tees yard is currently maintained by a skeleton staff of just 14.

Meanwhile, Nissan, which employs more than 4,000 staff at its Sunderland car plant, has revealed a ten per cent fall in global production in June. Global sales fell by 3.9 per cent in the same month.

Global production for the six months to June is currently 3.2 per cent lower than the same period of last year, while sales are 10.3 per cent down.

The fall in production and sales is being blamed on a general fall in overall demand for vehicles, and is a problem affecting all car manufacturers.

In County Durham, investors have been given little more than a month to come up with a deal to save hundreds of jobs at the Sanyo microwave oven plant.

The Newton Aycliffe plant and its sister operation in Thornaby, Teesside, will close on November 30 with the loss of 315 jobs.

Last-ditch talks have been taking place between management and an unnamed European consortium in a bid to take over the running of the Aycliffe plant as a going concern.