THE owners of Llanwern steelworks plunged into the red today with losses of £840 million after wiping £1 billion off the value of its European arm.

The overall post-tax figure for Tata Steel represents a sharp fall from the previous year's £642 million profit, and is largely accounted for by the write-down.

Tata said "severely depressed conditions’’ in Europe and the UK had left steel demand almost 30% lower than 2008 pre-recession levels - leading to last week's move - though underlying performance in the region had improved with increased volumes in the last quarter.

The company did not give a pre-tax profit figure for its European arm. The overall group figure, excluding the impairment, was £387.7 million in the black, down from £621.6 million.

Roy Rickhuss, from the Community trade union which represents many UK steel workers, said: "Whilst the last quarter shows there are some indications of improvement and the company have again today repeated there are no plans to cut back on investment or dispose of assets in the UK, the situation overall remains of concern the employees and their families.’’