15th Nov 2021 08:51
(Alliance News) - Kainos Group PLC on Monday reported a marginal increase in profit in the first half of its current financial year as margins softened.
Kainos shares were trading 6.0% lower in London on Monday morning at 1,928.77 pence each, the worst performer among the mid-caps. The wider FTSE 250 index was trading 0.3% higher.
The Belfast, Northern Ireland-based information technology provider reported revenue growth in the six months to September 30 to GBP142.3 million, up 33% from GBP107.2 million posted a year ago. Pretax profit, meanwhile, rose by 3% to GBP24.8 million from GBP24.0 million.
"The return of utilisation to normal levels, salary increases, the elevated use of contract staff and the resumption of some 'in person' expenses has constrained our profit margin growth; we view current profit margin levels as our expected long-term profit trend," the company said.
Overall gross margin was 47.4% for the period, down from 52.1% a year ago.
Bookings jumped 81% year-on-year to GBP187.4 million from GBP103.6 million, while contracted backlog growth was 38% to GBP250.0 million from GBP180.9 million.
Kainos declared a dividend of 7.1 pence per share, up 11% from 6.4p paid a year ago. No special payout was declared after a 6.7p payout in the first half of financial 2021.
Looking ahead, the company said its robust pipeline, significant contracted backlog, long-term customer relationships and talented colleagues allow it to be confident in its outlook for both the current financial year and future periods.
"In the near-term, we anticipate that demand for all our services will remain high as the pandemic has accelerated the move towards greater digitisation," the company said in its statement Monday.
By Evelina Grecenko; [email protected]
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