JLR begins 'phased restart' of operations

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) says it has begun a "phased restart" of its operations with parts of its IT system back up and running.

The company said it was "working to clear a backlog of payments" to suppliers as it now had increased its processing capacity for invoicing.

The carmaker's production lines have been suspended since a cyber attack in August forced the company to shut down its IT networks. Its factories remain closed until next month at the earliest.

The government is considering stepping in to support JLR's suppliers, with concerns growing that some, mostly small businesses, could go bust due to the prolonged shut down of operations.

JLR said on Thursday that its recovery programme was "firmly under way" and that its global parts logistics centre, which supplies spare parts that service customers' vehicles, "returning to full operations".

"The financial system we use to process the wholesales of vehicles has been brought back online and we are able to sell and register vehicles for our clients faster, delivering important cash flow," the company added.

The carmaker said it recognised that the situation was a "difficult time for all connected with JLR".