Bradford cashmere firm Joseph Dawson has been praised for its success - by its top boss.

The firm, which saw much of its cashmere dehairing transferred to Mongolia two years ago, has been doing well, according to Ian Irvine, chairman of its parent group Dawson International.

Mr Irvine said: "Profitability at Joseph Dawson continues to improve through the benefits now flowing from its restructuring strategy, which saw the transfer of the majority of cashmere dehairing to Inner Mongolia in 1997.

"Sales of Chinese Mongolian cashmere held up well due to the competitive edge achieved through the manufacturing joint venture in China, which is now supplying the majority of demand for Chinese white cashmere fibre.

"This is a particularly positive result in light of the rapid erosion of raw material prices, which fell by as much as 40 per cent during the year."

The group, famed for its Pringle sweater brand, announced a pre-tax loss of £11 million compared to a profit at the same time last year of £13.8 million.

This was on a much-reduced turnover of £211.9 million, compared with £274.1 million last time.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.