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Andor, the Belfast-based scientific camera manufacturer, is to invest £15m to expand its production facilities.

The company is buying a premises next to its existing plant at Springvale business park in the west of the city.

The new building, which has a footprint of 23,000 sq ft (2136 sq m), is expected to be operational by autumn 2025.

It comes after a successful year for Andor which saw pre-tax profits increase by 11% from £17.8m to £19.8m.

The company said the performance was driven by strong growth in healthcare and life science, together with significant growth in Asia and the Americas.

Sales to China now account for 20% of the company's total revenues.

Managing director Kristian Laskey said developing new premises is a "key milestone for the business".

"Our focus now is on working collaboratively with Belfast City Council and other stakeholders to progress this project within the desired timeframe," he added.

Andor started as a spin-off company from Queen's University Belfast, making highly sensitive cameras for use in research laboratories.

Since 2013 it has been owned by Oxford Instruments, a stock market listed company which makes a range of scientific tools.