A COMPANY which claims to have created more than 400 jobs after taking over the running of a range of council services has announced record profits of more than £77million.

And Capita, which won a 15-year contract worth £205million from Blackburn with Darwen Council in July 2001, said it is to build a new call centre in Darwen to service a 10-year deal with the BBC, creating a further 230 jobs.

Chairman Rod Aldridge claimed the company's partnership with the local authority had already brought an additional 400 jobs to the borough in his annual report.

In addition to council services, Capita is using Blackburn as a base for its work with other organisations throughout the country.

Mr Aldridge told shareholders that the 15-year contract with Blackburn with Darwen was developing ahead of expectations.

"The business performance of the centre is already bringing improvements in service quality," he said. "And in just seven months, 400 new jobs have been created through additional work generated by Capita. The commitment we gave to the authority was to bring 500 new jobs to the area within five years."

The borough will be a big winner of Capita's success in landing its largest-ever contract, a 10-year deal with the BBC to administer TV licensing. A customer call centre is scheduled to open in Darwen in July to deal with telephone, e-mail and fax inquiries and the company says an further 230 jobs will be created.

Capita is also planning to build a £5 million state-of-the-art office complex in Blackburn town centre which will house 500 staff.

Capita's annual report and accounts show that the company increased turnover by more than 50 per cent in 2001 to £691 million. Operating profit rose 45 per cent to £77.1 million.

"The group has made superb progress in the year and, once again, has achieved record results," said Mr Aldridge.