IT firm Version 1 creating 50 jobs in Belfast expansion

Martin McGuinness and Peter Robinson were at the opening of Version 1's new offices

An IT firm is creating 50 jobs in Belfast with an average salary of £57,500 over the next three years.

Version 1 provides managed services and business application services.

The expansion will bring its staff in Belfast to 76 by the end of 2017.

First Minister Peter Robinson said: "The average salaries of these new jobs will be more than three times those in the Northern Ireland private sector."

He said they were "undoubtedly the type of high-level jobs that will help us to rebuild and rebalance our economy".

'Dynamic sector'

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said: "The total investment by Version 1 to this project is around £6.5m and when complete will deliver additional employment opportunities generating £2.8m in salaries over the next three years."

He added: "Our cost-competitive business environment, talented IT graduates and excellent telecommunications infrastructure continues to drive down costs for global companies offering a competitive edge in a very dynamic sector."

The two men were speaking at the opening of Version 1's new offices in the Gasworks complex in south Belfast.

The company has six other offices across the UK and Ireland and is headquartered in Dublin. It opened its Belfast operation two years ago.

Managing director Justin Keatinge said: "The calibre of IT staff that we have been able to recruit in Belfast is excellent and, together with the support from Invest NI, made Belfast the obvious choice for this expansion.

"We intend to expand not only our core Oracle skills base in Northern Ireland but also other specialist Version 1 capabilities such as Microsoft and Amazon web services."

The firm said the expansion would place specific emphasis on Oracle business software capability.

Invest Northern Ireland has offered £350,000 of support.