ALMOST 100 employees at a Blackburn lab equipment factory are to lose their jobs -- just a year after the directors of the parent company picked up over £320,000 in bonuses.

The Yorkshire-based home shopping group Findel, which owns a warehouse in Nelson and Express Gifts in Clayton-le-Moors and Church, has announced the axe will fall on the Novara factory next April.

The company announced the closure and the loss of 80 jobs following a review of all their businesses.

The Novara factory, based in Hutton Street, Blackburn, makes schools lab equipment for Findel which sells and distributes educational goods. It was bought by Findel two years ago.

Last year Findel saw sales in the six months to the end of September move ahead 13 per cent to £88.3million.

The group's home shopping division alone, which employs the East Lancashire workers, did even better, ringing up a 20 per cent increase in sales over the period to £54.7 million.

The three directors at Findel plc shared bonuses of £328,000 last year, according to the company's annual report.

Its Express Gifts arm employs more than 500 people in East Lancashire from its huge warehouse in Church, a call centre in Clayton-le-Moors and premises in Nelson.

Chairman Keith Chapman, 58, received a £143,000 bonus and £300,000 salary in the financial year to March 31, 2000. Together with benefits his total pay package for the year was £464,000, up from £303,000 the previous year.

Chief executive Tony Johnson, 57, received a £115,000 bonus and £243,000 salary as part of a £378,000 package, up from £245,000. Director and company secretary Ivan Bolton, 57, received a £70,000 bonus and £148,000 salary as part of a £232,000 package, up from £150,000.

Bonuses are paid based on the group reaching certain financial targets. During the year 2000 group sales increased by 20 per cent from £201.7m to £241.3m.

A spokesman for Findel said they regretted the closure of the Novara factory but stressed they had announced the redundancies as early as possible to give the workers time to find other jobs and that there was no threat to jobs in other parts of the business.

The spokesman added: "This in no way reflects on the efforts of the workforce who have given sterling service, but we are not a manufacturing company and this move will allow us to concentrate on the core business which is the sales and distribution of educational goods."

Nobody from Novara was available for comment.