ONE of the world's most successful privately-owned computer software companies plans to set up its UK headquarters in York, it was revealed today.

Sir Gil Simpson, founder and chief executive of the New Zealand-based Jade Software Corporation Ltd, arrived in York today to meet the city's Inward Investment Board.

It means the prospect of possibly 25 new jobs in software development and administration based in York, but hundreds more for sales staff working from home throughout the UK.

Sir Gil's visit from Australia comes as the company's recent expansion push into the UK yields two major contracts in Yorkshire - with rail freight giant English Welsh and Scottish Railways (EWS) in Doncaster and a multi-million pound agreement to update the Jade system of the Skipton Building Society.

These add to a massive global network of companies such as IBM, Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers, which use Jade technology in their product or service offerings.

Sir Gil, whose company employs 400 people, said the Skipton Building Society was transferring its mainframe computer systems to Jade and planned to base all its future computer systems on Jade technology.

"It's excellent to see the acceptance of Jade by the Yorkshire business community, and we look forward to being part of the Science City York initiative," he said.

The decision to move to York comes after more than a year of discussions between officials of Sir Gil's company and the Inward Investment Board, as well as Science City York, Invest UK and York College of Further and Higher Education.

Sir Gil is said to be impressed with the way York has promoted itself. He also admires the recently-established York Professional Initiative, in which professional services have banded together to boost the city's growing credentials.

One of the biggest lures was a decision by Mike Galloway, principal of York College to teach Jade to its students, joining more than 30 universities and colleges in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the U.S.

The courses, sponsored by the Skipton and EWS, would give his students "the chance to gain real vocational IT development skills," he said.

Paul Murphy, chief executive of York IIB, and his team are now exploring the office options open to Jade, particularly areas like Science City, in Heslington.

Updated: 15:21 Monday, April 08, 2002