Kainos: Belfast-based IT firm profits up 14% to £77m

Kainos, the IT firm which is one of Northern Ireland’s largest businesses, made a pre-tax profit of £77m last year.

That was up 14% on the previous year’s £68m profit, while turnover grew by 2%, from £375m to £382m.

Sales at the company’s core digital services division fell 5%, as some private-sector customers cut their spending.

Chief executive Russell Sloan said it had been a “disciplined” performance against an uncertain economic backdrop.

He said the fall-off in digital services reflected more cautious spending by financial services clients and that there would not be an immediate recovery in that sector.

Kainos specialises in helping organisations digitise their operations and counts UK government departments among its major clients.

It employs almost 3,000 people across its global operations and will soon start building a new HQ in Belfast city centre.