Profits continue to soar for Belfast-based IT firm Kainos

Kainos specialises in helping organisations to digitise their operations, and as a major partner of Microsoft, they have achieved notable large scale projects for the NHS, BT and the UK Government.

Their interim results FY22 highlights include a revenue of £142.3m (up 33%), bookings of £187.4m (up 81), 601 global customers (up 25%) and a 98% customer satisfaction rating (up 1%). Adjusted pre-tax profit was up by 3% from £57m to £59m. 

The company also continued to grow its workforce and now employs about 2,700 people.

Speaking to the BBC, Chief executive Brendan Mooney said the digitalisation trend "gathered further pace during the pandemic" as organisations responded to the changing ways of delivering services.

Mr Mooney added that the business was becoming "increasingly international: two-thirds of its customers are based in central Europe and North America, with one-third of Kainos employees based in the same regions.

He added that the outlook for the coming year remains strong, with the company saying its main digital services division has "more opportunities in our addressable markets than we have people to deliver them".

The rise of Kainos as a major IT provider

Kainos is a UK-headquartered IT provider, operating through two specialist business divisions, Digital Services and their Workday Practice.

With a purpose to help their customers with their most challenging projects and, together with their partners, help them build the capability to succeed in the digital age, Kainos was founded as a joint venture between Fujitsu and The Queen's University of Belfast business incubation unit (QUBIS Ltd) in 1986.

After several years of business, in which Fujitsu was its main customer, 2004 would see Kainos enter into a partnership agreement with Mediasurface, the UK's largest content management provider and in 2005, a partnership was established with TIBCO, a provider of infrastructure software.

In 2007, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kainos called SpeechStorm was established, providing automated products for call centres, including touch tone, SMS, speech and visual IVR. That same year, management in Kainos bought out Fujitsu's remaining 20% shares, leading to an eventual expansion of operations and research into Silicon Valley in 2010, which has continued to this day into Indianapolis.

In 2015, Kainos entered the London Stock Exchange, trading as Kainos Group plc.

Tech & AI LIVE and a special digital report on Kainos

Kainos will soon be appearing within Technology Magazine's July issue with a special digital report 'Thinking beyond limitations to digitally transform', with an exclusive interview with Russell Sloan, Director of Digital Services.

We are proud to reveal that Kainos are also sponsors of our Tech LIVE event at London's Tobacco Dock, where Data & AI Practice Director Peter Campbell will be talking about their 'The future of trust in artificial intelligence', which you can catch through our virtual stream (10 am Thursday, June 22).

Plus, Karim Jessani, Data Consultant / CSO for Canada, will be speaking virtually at 10am on Friday June 23, with a talk entitled 'With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility'.