US technology giant IBM opened a centre in Portugal last month to provide accounting and financial services to clients across Europe, an IBM Portugal spokeswoman said Wednesday.
The centre in the northern city of Braga employs 50 people who provide services to Anglo-Dutch consumer products group Unilever as part of a seven-year agreement signed with IBM in 2005, said spokeswoman Estela Viegas.
"The space can be expanded. The idea is for the centre to serve other clients," she said.
The centre will work with IBM's service delivery centre in Krakow, Poland to handle client and vendor relations for Unilever while another IBM centre on Bangalore, India will provide transactional services to the firm.
"The investment in Portugal follows other recent strategic investments by IBM worldwide focused on expanding skills and capability on a global basis, especially in fast growing markets," IBM said in a statement.
IBM has another service delivery centre in Lisbon which employs 200 people who provide financial and administrative services to oil giant BP PLC's refining and marketing businesses in Britain, France, Spain and Portugal.
In total IBM employs some 1,100 people in Portugal.
