UK engineering group GKN has announced plans to cut 1,250 jobs.

The company said that 70% of the jobs will go in its aerospace business which is based in Germany, the US and the UK.

It said it was "reducing capacity" in response to the crisis in the aerospace industry in the aftermath of the 11 September terror attacks in the United States.

In a statement, GKN said the precise timing of the job cuts and other cost saving measures would depend "on how GKN's various markets develop".

But it warned off further redundancies to come in 2002, in its automotive division, a slowdown in vehicle production in the United States took effect.

Profit warning

"The outlook for the fourth quarter in 2001, particularly in respect of North America vehicle production levels," GKN said in a statement.

The company warned that sales and profits in the fourth quarter would be lower than anticipated at its interim results in August.

GKN makes car components, aero engines and components for helicopters.

The job cuts amount to about 3% of its global workforce.

They follow 5,000 redundancies announced earlier this month by Rolls-Royce, the world's second biggest civil aero-engine maker.

GKN's shares fell back 7% in early trading, off 20p to 260p.