Giant chemical company Ciba today said it was upbeat about the future as it was managing to pass on continued increases in raw materials costs to customers.

The giant Swiss-owned firm, which has its largest manufacturing plant at Low Moor, Bradford said it had achieved a "healthy" year-to-date sales performance with prices "visibly improving".

Bradford plant director Rodney Swailes said the water treatment division's performance reflected that across the group and it was "pushing to grow sales".

"The biggest push for the organisation is in increasing prices to customers, partly because the raw materials are getting more expensive by the day, with oil prices continuing to go up," he said. "We need to push this cost through to the customer and we have seen some encouraging trends, but the shortage of raw materials remains a factor."

Mr Swailes confirmed that the company is now expecting to make 25 compulsory redundancies in Bradford as part of the overall 90 jobs cuts announced earlier this year.

Across the globe, Ciba is reducing its headcount by 950. Up to 300 jobs will be lost in Clayton, Manchester, where the company is to close a dye-stuffs factory that has been struggling due to the downturn in the textiles industry. It will eventually shut in mid-2008.

Meanwhile, Mr Swailes hailed the safety record at the Low Moor plant which is this week expected to notch up three million man hours without a "lost time" accident.

Announcing the latest results, chairman Armin Meyer said he was pleased with the successful integration of the Raisio Chemicals business which Ciba bought earlier this year.

He said: "One important factor in our improved performance was our conscious decision to pursue quality sales and to walk away from business that had unsatisfactory margins. We also kept manufacturing costs under control, even as we produced more."