CHARLIE TAYLOR and BARRY ROCHE

Outsourcing company SouthWestern is to create 260 jobs in Co Cork .

The jobs were announced at a ceremony to mark the opening of new offices at Little Island on the outskirts of Cork city.

One hundred posts are to be filled immediately with an additional 160 jobs coming on stream over the next two years.

Founded in1957 as the SWS Group, SouthWestern currently employs about 500 people in Clonakilty, where it handles back-office administration for food and drink, media, banking, telecommunications, retail and energy companies sectors.

Its clients include Bord Gáis Energy, the Private Residential Tenancies Board, Independent News & Media, the Department of Agriculture, and several other local government and public sector organisations.

Last year SouthWestern won a five year contract to deliver a new livestock database for the UK’s Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The contract is for an electronic movement reporting system and accompanying database for sheep, goats, and deer in England.

In February, the company announced the creation of 40 jobs in Co Cork as part of a major expansion that also sees it creating 200 jobs over the next three years at its Milton Keynes base in Bedforshire.

SouthWestern, which is owned by Ion Equity, also employs a further 150 staff at its Polish base in Lodz, opened a London office in 2012.

The new jobs will bring its workforce up to 1,100 employees.

“We are very excited by SouthWestern’s growth prospects and by the opportunities which we believe will fuel further expansion for the company. Building strong relationships in the areas in which we are based is extremely important to SouthWestern,” said the company’s chairman Neil O’Leary.

“Cork is developing as a hub for the outsourcing sector and we are delighted to play our part, through our expansion here in Little Island in strengthening its position in that regard,” he added.

SouthWestern manages over 5 million customer calls per year and throughputs over €6 billion per year in transactions for its clients. It also processes over 4 million documents, 111,000 pay slips and over 100,000 claims on an annualised basis.

Chief executive Jim Costello said the company was continuing to win new business and needed to increase its capacity, particularly in the area of high quality multilingual customer relations management and sales.

“This is a growth story based on new contract wins and constant innovation. We need more capacity, more flexibility and to extend our pool of talent. Our new employees and our new modern offices here in Little Island will address all three elements,” he said.

“We will be looking to recruit sales, administration, account management and multi-lingual personnel from the local area in the coming weeks and months.”