A CO Antrim IT support group plans to invest £19.4 million (€21.6 million) in a new business project that will create 88 jobs in the North.

Northgate Managed Services, a provider of infrastructure and specialist ICT services in the UK and Ireland, intends to grow its workforce in Northern Ireland to 530 by next year. The group, which is headquartered in Newtownabbey, said yesterday it had identified new business opportunities worth a potential £62 million over the next three years.

Andy Ross, chief executive of Northgate Managed Services, said the group had worked hard to reduce the impact of the global downturn last year and focused on increasing sales. As a result, Mr Ross said, it now intended to recruit a further 88 staff in the North in order to take advantage of the upturn in its business.

The Newtownabbey group will receive £2.64 million in financial support from Invest Northern Ireland towards the cost of the investment project which will see it centralise back office functions and launch a major training and development programme.

The North’s Minister for Enterprise, Arlene Foster, said the “welcome boost for the North’s economy” would help generate £8.2 million annually in salaries and safeguard a further 241 existing jobs. “This investment is a significant commitment by one of the UK’s leading IT services firms,” the Minister added.