Connect Electronics, a Dublin-based distributor of components to the electronics industry, is to invest £5 million (€6.35 million) in an expansion of its sales and logistics operations in the Republic and the US.

In the first phase of the expansion, the company will invest £2 million in a new 14,000 square foot premises in the Finglas Century Business Park in Dublin. This is due to open in October this year.

The company will also expand the capacity of its existing Florida office in the US.

Employment at the company would double over the next 12 months from its current level of 18 people in the Republic and 10 in the US, the company said.

Mr Sean Carty, managing director of Connect Electronics, said the company was actively recruiting staff to support the growing volume of business.

The company recently increased turnover to £63 million for the six months to March 2000. This was well in excess of the reported revenues of some £38 million which it made for the 12 months leading up to September 1999.

Connect Electronics is a distributor of a complete range of electronic components, including active and passive components, and computer peripherals.