Software firm to expand for the second time

April 15, 2005

Software development company Liberty Information Technology (LIT) has unveiled the second major expansion at its Belfast software centre in under a year.

The company will invest another £1.5 million over the next two years to develop software services for its parent company Liberty Mutual Group, established in 1912 in Boston and the sixth largest insurer in the US with assets of close to 100 billion US dollars.

The move increases the payroll at the company to 175 by the end of 2006 from its present 153 - and bumps up Liberty's annual wages bill by another £700,000 to £6.8 million.

Last May, Liberty announced a £2.9 million expansion that led to the creation of 26 jobs.

The latest expansion was announced yesterday by Liberty's Managing director Gordon Bell and Leslie Ross, managing director of Invest Northern Ireland's international business division, which is contributing £248,000 towards the costs of the investment.

"The aim of this latest project is to extend the range of expert services we provide the Liberty Mutual Group's variuos operations and to further strengthen our competiveness in terms of costs and quality," Mr Bell said.

"While we have been sucessful in winning new business from Liberty Mutual subsidiaries like Liberty International Underwriters and Regional Agency Markets over the past year, it is vital we continue to enhance competiveness and cost-efficiency by investing in our capabilities.

"This means developing the skills of our people, strenghtening our management team and harnessing the latest technology to enable us to respond faster with consistently high quality services".

Mr Ross said: "This investment enhances Northern Ireland's reputation as a centre of excellence for software development - and Belfast's international standing as a growing financial services centre."
Liberty Information Technology was established in Belfast in 1997 as Liberty Mutual's first software development centre outside America.