Business

Kainos complete South American signing as Belfast IT group's workforce grows by 700 during pandemic

Kainos now employs just over 2,400 people, after recruiting 385 inside the last five months.
Kainos now employs just over 2,400 people, after recruiting 385 inside the last five months. Kainos now employs just over 2,400 people, after recruiting 385 inside the last five months.

FAST-GROWING Belfast digital services group Kainos has branched into South America as part of its ongoing global expansion strategy.

The acquisition of Buenos Aires-based UNE Consulting comes as the Northern Irish IT company announced the recruitment of 385 staff in the past five months, taking the group’s global workforce to 2,409.

It means Kainos has to date recruited around 700 people since the outbreak of Covid-19 in Northern Ireland in late March 2020.

The growth follows a dramatic acceleration in the pace of digital transformation across the public and private sectors during the pandemic.

An upbeat trading statement on Wednesday morning revealed the Kainos board now expect revenues to be ahead of the current forecasts, with adjusted profits expected to fall in line with forecasts.

Kainos has benefited from a series of lucrative public sector contracts, most notably in the healthcare sector, while its Workday division has also continued to expand its global reach.

UNE Consulting is the fifth Workday specialist to be acquired by Kainos to date. It follows last year’s acquisition of IntuitiveTEK in Denver, Colorado.

Workday is a cloud-based financial management and office management software.

The Belfast group had been working on joint Workday projects with the Argentinian company since 2019. Some 42 UNE consultants have now been absorbed into the Kainos group.

Kainos chief executive Brendan Mooney said: “We are delighted to welcome the UNE team to Kainos as we continue to grow our global Workday practice - UNE's values of innovation, trust and commitment deeply align with our own.

“We look forward to working closely with our new colleagues, who have a wealth of experience serving customers across the globe."

Meanwhile, the group’s trading update said the company has been encouraged by its early progress following the efforts to expand its client base in Europe and North America.

“Within the Workday Practice, we continue to benefit from the established geographic scope of our business, and we have secured significant new consulting contracts nationally and internationally.

“Smart Test, our Workday automated testing platform, continues to win new clients and drive very strong growth, and we are delighted to launch Smart Audit.”

The statement concluded: “While the ongoing economic disruption caused by Covid-19 will be a feature in future trading periods, our outlook remains confident, which reflects our significant pipeline and robust backlog.”