A blood management company has announced proposals to close a plant, affecting up to 270 jobs.

Haemonetics has begun a 45 day consultation period with employees at its facility in Bothwell, South Lanarkshire.

It said that much of the market for products made in Bothwell is shifting to the Asia/Pacific region.

The company said the proposal to close the plant in Scotland is to do with its emerging customer base in the Far East.

Gerry Gould, Vice President of Investor Relations at Haemonetics, said there was no time scale as yet for when the plant might close.

He said: "We announced an intention to begin consultation with the employees and until we complete that we don't have any plans.

"We've not made any decisions until we go through that process."

Haemonetics later said that the proposed closure of the facility, which was established in 1994, would affect around 270 permanent employees later in 2014 or early next year.

It is part of a proposed transfer of production to a site under construction in Penang, Malaysia.

It said that the company is committed to working through these proposed changes with employees in a "respectful and sensitive" way.

The company said that the proposal to move production away from Bothwell reflects its strategy, announced in 2013, to transform its global manufacturing footprint to maintain a competitive advantage in light of challenging economic conditions.

It has already announced the closure of its facility in Braintree, Massachusetts, USA and the ceasing of operations at its facility in Ascoli, Italy, as well as the construction of the new plant in Penang.