A STEEL firm which went into administration earlier this year with the loss of more than 350 jobs has been bought by a Saudi Arabian company and will resume production.

Thamesteel, based at Sheerness, Kent, has been sold out of administration to a new company owned by the Al-Tuwairqi Group (ATG).

A statement said the sale meant production could restart with the hope of recreating a large number of the jobs lost when the company entered administration on January 25 this year.

Michael Leahy, general secretary of steel union Community, hailed the announcement as “fantastic news”.

Paul Maloney, of the GMB union said: “This is one bit of good news in what has been an incredibly gloomy economic situation.”