Yet another major American company today announced it is to set up a new UK base in York - and this time it could mean more than 70 full and part-time jobs.

The arrival of Californian-based Washington Inventory Service Limited (WIS), which provides stocktaking for some of the world's largest retailers, including Walmart, which owns Asda, is the fourth major US coup for the city in less than a month, each one celebrated by the York Inward investment Board.

WIS, started in 1953 and based in San Diego, boasts that it has conducted more than a million inventories in all 50 States using the latest data technology.

Already it has been advertising for part-time stocktakers in the York area with good maths skills, using the York Job Centre as a clearing base for applications.

It is offering part-time shifts on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 5.30am to 3.30pm, with starting wages at between £4.25 and £4.80 per hour based on experience.

The firm's US operations manager Carl Capozzi, arriving in Clifton Moor to spearhead the UK operation, said: "We will also have a small office in Leeds, but in York initially we plan to employ between 35 and 40 people, but as we progress and gain a foothold those numbers could increase to more than 70, perhaps a lot more."

The Washington Inventory Service has moved into Tower Court in Oakdale Road, Clifton Moor, where it joins two other new US-based businesses, steered there by the investment board.

Its neighbours there will be fellow new arrivals, Illinois-based paint company Williams Hayward Protective Coatings, a supplier to Thrall Europa, the US wagonmakers in Holgate Road, and AutoPatch, part of the XN Technology in Washington State - a firm which is setting up a European base for its hi-tech audiovisual components.

All of these have followed hot on the heels of the IIB's announcement last month that global payment card processors Total Systems Services (TSYS) of Columbia, Georgia had bought the four-storey headquarters of the Shepherd Building Group at Fulford House, York for a UK base with the prospect of an immediate 55 jobs.

Mr Capozzi said: "What attracted us to York, apart from the city being very centrally located, is the encouraging fact that there are a lot of other different US companies who have come to York."

Paul Murphy, chief executive of the IIB said: "What a bumper New Year! This brings the number of American firms in the city to 26 and we can clearly justify the claim to the business world in the US that York is a natural and welcoming choice for companies seeking to establish a European head office.

"I am particularly grateful to Yorkshire Forward for the help they have given us in relation to all these recent inquiries."

Updated: 10:51 Friday, January 12, 2001