SOFTWARE firm Kainos Group, widely regarded as one of Northern Ireland's biggest IT success stories, made a gross profit of £37.1 million on record sales of £87.2m in the year to March, the newly-floated company reported yesterday.
The Belfast-headquartered business, which also has offices in Derry and Dublin, said its revenues were up more than a quarter on the £60.8m recorded in the previous 12 months. Pre-tax profit rose from £11.8m to £14.3m.
And the board said Kainos was "well-positioned for growth in the coming years" given that its "pipeline of prospects continues to strengthen across all divisions".
It's the first trading performance since Kainos became one of just three Northern Ireland firms to float on the London Stock Exchange last July.
The company's chief executive Brendan Mooney, who has been with the company since its start-up days in 1989 a spin-out from Queen's University, said: "I'm delighted to report another year of strong performance, with increasing levels of client demand across each of our operating divisions.
"We are very pleased with progress to date and excited by the opportunities ahead. We are seeing continued stability and improvement in core markets and we are encouraged by the emerging opportunities in the US.
"Our investment in new products is being validated by an increasing rate of customer uptake, and the feedback on the quality of our products and services remains very high.
"The group's pipeline of prospects continues to strengthen across all divisions and the board believes that the group is well-positioned for growth in the coming years."
The company said its flotation last year had provided it with an opportunity to widen share ownership amongst employees through a variety of equity participation schemes, as a result of which 670 staff members became shareholders or gained an equity interest at the time of listing.
In the UK public sector, Kainos said it has continued to see an improvement in market conditions as large central government departments and agencies initiate and progress digitisation programmes.
Outside government, the company is experiencing "good growth", particularly in the US and mainland Europe, where it has established offices in Boston and Amsterdam.
Among other highlights, the company recruited 207 new staff during the last year, bringing its total employee headcount to 777.
Kainos also improved its position to from 50th to 37th in the Sunday Times official 'Best Companies' to Work For' league table.
