Kainos, the Northern Ireland software group, has reported a 38 per cent jump in pre-tax profits to £12 million (€14 million) for the first half of the year and announced plans to grow its operations in key markets with the acquisition of two "specialist consulting companies".
The Belfast headquartered group, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2015 and earlier this year became the first Northern Ireland company to get promoted to the FTSE 250, also grew its turnover in the first half of 2019 by 29 per cent to £86.9 million.
Announcing its latest interim results the chief executive of Kainos, Brendan Mooney, said the company was "on track to deliver our tenth consecutive year of growth, which we measure in terms of our people, customers, revenue and adjusted pre-tax profit. This achievement is more pronounced against an unsettled macro-economic backdrop."
Kainos, which was established in 1986, began life as a spin-out company from Queen’s University. It currently provides digital technology services and platforms to 360 public and private organisations throughout the world and has grown its workforce to 1,500 people.
Mr Mooney said it will now increase its headcount by 21 people following the acquisition of Formulate in the UK and Implexa in Germany.
He said the company's growth in the first half of the year had been driven by "client-led demand" which had resulted in expansion across its established 13 strong office network and the addition of new offices in Paris and Toronto.
According to the latest results its sales orders increased by 10 per cent to £99.5 million over the six months to the end of September 2019.
Mr Mooney said Kainos had also established a presence in Sweden, Austria, Finland and Romania to support its international clients.
“The group’s pipeline of prospects continues to strengthen and the board believes that the group is well-positioned for growth both in the short term and in the coming years,” he added.
