Teleperformance, the big outsourcer, has opened a second call centre in Northern Ireland, set to employ 450 agents by 2010.  Sited on a retail park in Newry, it cost £6.5m to set up, with support from Invest NI.
At present, it has 120 agents, 100 of whom handle calls about Sainsbury’s online grocery service, a contract Teleperformance won in 1998.  Its other clients include Volvo, Identity and Passport Service, Department for Work and Pensions and NHS Blood and Transplant.
Based in Paris, Teleperformance Group operates in 45 countries and has 293 call centres.  In the UK, it has call centres in Bristol, Birmingham, Ashby De La Zouch, Bangor and, now, Newry, which, between them, employ 2,000 people.

Pictured at the Newry opening (from left): Nigel Dodds, minister of enterprise for Northern Ireland; Jeff Smith, chairman and chief executive of Teleperformance; Penny White, head of Sainsbury’s online customer care; and Andy Benzie, Sainsbury’s contact centres manager.