Kainos: Belfast IT firm sales rise by 33%

Belfast IT firm Kainos increased its sales by 33% from £107m to £142m in the first half of the financial year.

Adjusted pre-tax profit was up by 12% from £26m to £29m.

Profit growth was lower than sales growth due to salary increases, greater use of contract staff and the return of some "in-person" expenses in areas like training.

The firms says it views the current profit margin levels as "our expected long-term profit trend".

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

It performed strongly during the coronavirus pandemic as the trend towards digital services accelerated.

The firm employs almost 2,500 people across its global operations, up from about 1,700 this time last year.

It expects further strong growth, with a backlog of work valued at £250m.

Kainos has bought the Movie House cinema on Belfast's Dublin Road as a site for its new headquarters

The company has made progress in efforts to increase the proportion of work it does internationally and for private sector customers.

The proportion of revenue generated from customers outside the UK and Ireland increased by 45% to £40m and is now 28% of total revenue compared with 26% at the same point last year.

Kainos's share price has also performed strongly and the business is valued at about £2.5bn.

The firm's chief executive Brendan Mooney said the majority of staff were still working from home, with less than 20% coming into the office.

He said his advice was for employees to prioritise their wellbeing and judge where was the best place to do their work.

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However, he emphasised that the firm remained committed to developing a new headquarters building in Belfast.

Kainos bought the Movie House cinema on the Dublin Road, which is being demolished.

Mr Mooney said he expected that it would be about three years before the new building would be complete.

He said some business-related travel was returning but the company was only averaging about 200 flights a month compared with 1,200 a month before the pandemic.