SWS to create 226 jobs with help from State

Cork company SWS is to create 226 new jobs in business process outsourcing over the next three years with the help of funds from Enterprise Ireland.

News of the expansion comes just a fortnight after the IAWS co-op, soon to be renamed One51, pulled out of a deal to acquire SWS.

The acquisition, valued at €64 million, failed because some of SWS's five co-op shareholders opposed the deal.

The development announced yesterday was in the planning stage throughout the lengthy acquisition negotiations between SWS and IAWS.

Jim Costello, business development manager with SWS's business process outsourcing division, said the investment should allow the group to triple its size between now and 2009.

An asset of these proportions would have provided a significant boon for the IAWS Co-op in its path towards an expected flotation.

SWS will use the funds from Enterprise Ireland to invest in research and skills development so that it can sell its services in the UK. Over the past few years, it has become a dominant player in business process outsourcing in the Republic, servicing sectors such as government, the media and financial services.

The company performs services such as back-office accounting, customer services and human resource management for its clients.

Its business process outsourcing unit, based in Clonakilty, currently employs 145 people but this number is now expected to grow to 371. The co-op as a whole has 300 full-time staff an 230 part-time employees.

Mr Costello said the growth would come after a "substantial investment" by both Enterprise Ireland and SWS.

He said the company would aim its services not at the largest UK companies but at the tier beneath that. Many of these firms, which might be categorised as sub-FTSE 250, do not currently use outsourcing services, according to Mr Costello.

SWS has concentrated over the past few years on moving away from agribusiness into the services sector.

As well as offering outsourcing services, the firm has a wind energy and waste management business.

At yesterday's expansion announcement, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin, said SWS was "a fine example" of the kind of company envisaged in Enterprise Ireland's industrial strategy.

"I commend SWS and the entire team at Bandon and Clonakilty for their commitment and initiative in developing this project," the Minister said.

A spokesman for the IAWS Co-op meanwhile confirmed yesterday that the society is progressing towards changing its corporate status.

This will entail the transfer of assets such as a 26 per cent stake in NTR, the Irish Pride bakery, a rendering business in Ballinasloe, a 45 per cent stake in French fertiliser company Cedest Engrais and some property in Cork.