More than 600 jobs set for North
There was good news for the North's economy today with the announcement of the creation of more than 600 jobs.
The announcement of the call centre posts came 24 hours after nearly 1,000 new jobs were heralded, 900 of them at a call centre in Derry.
The latest jobs are being created by French-owned Teleperformance, an international leader in the provision of outsourced business services to an international client base including the retail, banking, telecommunications, travel and health sectors.
The company has offices in Bangor and Newry, Co Down, and all the 610 jobs being created over the next two years will be at the Newry base.
It was set up less than two years after being established and has already reached its target of 450 employees.
Jeff Smith, chairman and chief executive of Teleperformance, said: "With the demand for outsourcing increasing as companies look for more cost-effective methods of managing key business activities, we identified a need for a major expansion at one of our UK sites which would support the development of new business opportunities across Europe."
The North's economic agency, Invest NI, has offered just over £3m (€3.35m) support towards the expansion of the Newry centre.
Mr Smith said that support, combined with the availability of suitable property and the company's positive experiences in the North over the past 11 years, resulted in its decision to invest further.
"As a customer service-focused business, the people we employ are the key to our success.
"Newry and Bangor have rapidly become a vital part of our UK network and I am confident that moving forward with this latest expansion, we will be able to attract a similar calibre of people to support our strategic growth plans, with Newry becoming our flagship centre in the UK."
Stormont Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster said it was a significant investment by an established company which would provide a welcome boost to the local economy - some £10m (€11.1m) a year.
She said: "By the time all positions are filled, Teleperformance will have almost 2,000 people based at its Newry and Bangor sites, making the firm one of the region's largest employers.
"The number and variety of positions being created will offer career development opportunities in the business services sector, competitive rates of pay, and facilitate the development of valuable, transferable skills."
She said that at a time when many companies are deferring investment plans, it was encouraging to see the confidence placed in the North by international companies which see the region as the most competitive location from which to grow their businesses in global markets.
She said: "It is a resounding endorsement of the quality of our local skills base and our business environment, which Invest NI continues to actively market in order to secure investment and reinvestment across Northern Ireland."
