A NEWRY insurance company is creating 60 jobs as part of a multi-million-pound investment in the UK and Ireland over the next four years.
The new jobs announced by Autoline yesterday will bring the total workforce in the firm to more than 200, with additional salaries contributing £1.5 million annually to the north's economy.
Autoline was the first broker in Europe to launch an 'app' offering insurance premium discounting directly linked to driver behaviour and has significantly grown its customer base of young drivers as a result.
It is now planning to develop its own telematics and data analysis platform with the aim of doubling gross written premium by 2018 - with almost 60 per cent of sales coming from outside Northern Ireland.
Michael Blaney, Autoline managing director, said the telematics platform would enable the firm to analyse data collected through the 'app'.
"This will give us a valuable commodity that we can sell on to other insurers and brokers and which will help us to substantially increase sales, particularly in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland," he said.
Paying tribute to the company's innovation, enterprise minister Arlene Foster said the new positions - which are being supported with a £390,000 grant from Invest NI - would pay above the Northern Ireland private sector median.
"This expansion and the development of its data analysis platform will enable Autoline to remain at the fore-front of the market, increasing and extending its market share," she said.
"Autoline is an example of the many small and medium-sized businesses in Northern Ireland which, with the support of Invest NI, are making an important contribution to our economy."
The minister added that through Invest NI's support, more than £21m had been invested by businesses in Newry, Mourne and Down council area last year, leading to the promotion of 576 new jobs - an increase of 111 per cent on the previous 12-month period.
Welcoming the announcement, SDLP MLA for Newry and Armagh. Dominic Bradley, said the expansion was a clear demonstration of Auto-line's confidence in the area's highly skilled workforce.
"These are good, well paid jobs that will boost and enrich the local economy," Mr Bradley said.
"As the first company to develop a mobile phone app that offers discounted premiums based on good driving, Autoline are at the cutting edge of integrating traditional services with new technology. It's a very exciting industry for new recruits."
Most of the new positions will be based in the company's Newry headquarters, but there will also be a number of employment opportunities in Autoline branches in Ballymena, Coleraine, Downpatrick and Enniskillen.