A SCOTTISH firm claims that its new English headquarters in York has already generated contracts in the north east worth more than £1 million.

Access Computing Ltd, one of the UK's top suppliers of large-scale computing solutions to universities, research organisations, health authorities and major commercial companies, has set up a sales base at York Business Park - and it is booming.

In less than a month since arriving in York, the new outpost has clinched more than £1 million in contracts.

Paul Simpson, manager at York, who intends to recruit up to 20 people there in the coming months, said: "I cannot be too specific because there is still a lot of competition around, but we have sold high-performance computing solutions in the public sector - local government and education."

The operation was envisaged by head office in Livingston as having the potential to double turnover to more than £25 million over the next year, and Mr Simpson said: "We are more than happy with the way it is working out on sales."