Irish-owned SIS Pitches is to create its first ever base in Ireland, creating eight new jobs immediately with more jobs to follow as it expands here.
SIS Pitches is a world leader in synthetic and natural sports surfacing and employs 245 people around the world.
The company has never actually had a presence in Ireland but does have offices in the UK, Holland, the Middle East, Russia, Turkey and Angola.
It said today it will initially have a presence in Wicklow, Tyrone and Sligo, with the company in Ireland being headed up by Mark Barry, the company's operations director and Darren McGeehan, its sales director.
SIS Pitches was set up by CEO George Mullan in 2001.
It designs, manufactures, constructs, installs and maintains synthetic, natural and hybrid sports pitches. Some of its past projects include the Bernabeu and Camp Nou.
The company has also just completed laying the pitch for the 2018 World Cup Final in Moscow.
"We have had phenomenal success in the UK market as well as in Eastern Europe and Russia," commented its CEO George Mullan.
"This year, we will be opening a joint venture in China and we are also moving into the US and Japan. We want to bring the success that we have had overseas to Ireland, invest in Ireland and hire Irish people," he added.
"Our initial plan is to hire eight people with plans to put in warehouses and offices and employ more people as we expand on the island of Ireland. Globally, the company has more than doubled in size between 2013 and 2016 and we look forward to seeing similar growth in Ireland," commented Mark Barry, SIS Pitches Ireland Operations Director.
Meanwhile, SIS Pitches said its annual results for 2016 show a record turnover exceeding €54m. Its projections for 2017 is turnover of almost €63.5m.
