THE global workforce of Belfast-based IT services group Kainos grew by 33 per cent in the past year.
In a trading update on Tuesday, the tech unicorn said it took on an additional 668 staff in the year to March 31 2022. Kainos now employs 2,692 people in more than 20 countries.
The board of the software provider said it expects revenue and adjusted profit for the full year ending March 31 to be in line with current consensus forecasts.
Analysts previously said they expect Kainos to generate a revenue of £297 million for the 2021/22 financial year, representing annual growth of 26 per cent.
Consensus forecasts had anticipated a pre-tax profit of around £59m (up from £57m), but like many firms in the sector, Kainos’ growth aspirations are coming up against salary inflation among IT professionals.
Kainos now primarily operates two specialist business areas: Digital services and its Workday practice.
The digital services end of the group includes multi-million pound digital transformation projects for the likes of the NHS in England, while Workday includes a suite of financial management and HR software.
Describing the Workday services market as “fast growing”, Kainos said its global presence had been bolstered in the past year by the acquisition of Cloudator and Planalyse in Europe, as well as Une Consulting in Argentina and Blackline Group in the USA.
It brought some 153 people into the group.
In its trading update, Kainos said: “Our smart product suite for Workday has maintained its very strong growth trajectory. Smart Test, our automated testing platform for Workday, continues to expand its international client base, signing a record number of new clients during the year.
“Smart Audit, launched in August 2021, has already established a strong cohort of customers, from our existing client base as well as securing new clients.
“Our performance has been underpinned by our long-term customer relationships, and we remain extremely grateful to our customers for the trust that they have placed in Kainos to help them deliver their ambitious digital projects.”
Looking ahead, the IT provider said its pipeline remains “robust”, with a “strong balance sheet and significant contracted backlog underpin our confidence in our outlook”,
Kainos said it remains “well-positioned for further growth”.
