Kainos: Belfast IT firm doubles profits during pandemic

Kainos specialises in helping organisations to digitise their operations and is a major supplier to UK government departments

Kainos, the Belfast IT firm, more than doubled its pre-tax profit to £57m in 2021.

Revenues at the group were up by 31% to £235m with staff numbers also increasing from 1,700 to more than 2,000.

All staff got a £2,000 bonus to reflect their performance during the pandemic.

The majority of staff are continuing to work from home and the firm expects to use a blend of office and home working in future.

Kainos specialises in helping organisations to digitise their operations and counts the UK government as one of its major clients.

During the year the company was involved in projects related to the government's pandemic response.

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Chief Executive Brendan Mooney said that among its customers the impact of the pandemic had reinforced the need to have "robust digital plans".

He said there had been very little deferral of projects during the pandemic with organisations continuing to invest in IT.

In the coming year, the company is aiming to grow its business serving private sector and international clients.

The international effort will be focused initially in Germany and Canada.

Canada is seen as a promising market as it has a similar structure of government departments to the UK.

The renewed focus on the commercial sector will initially concentrate on financial services.

Kainos bought the Movie House cinema on Belfast's Dublin Road earlier this year as a site for its headquarters

Kainos now has more than 700 staff working in Belfast and is planning to develop a new office on the site of the Moviehouse cinema.

The demolition of the Moviehouse will be complete by the end of the summer but a decision on the exact scope of the office project will not be known until early next year.

Mr Mooney said they wanted to get a feel for how hybrid-working in the home and office would impact on the requirements for the new building.

He said there would be a return to in-person client meetings, training and marketing events.

However he does not expect the amount of business travel to be return to pre-pandemic levels as more organisations are comfortable with carrying out some meetings digitally.