Kainos

Kainos was founded in April 1986 as a joint venture between ICL and QUBIS, the commercialisation arm of Queen’s University BelfastQueen's University BelfastQueen’s University Belfast is a research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1845 as Queen’s College Belfast, became an independent university in 1908 and is a member of the Russell Group.Open the full entry.⁠[1][2]

Queen’s University Belfast and ICL (later Fujitsu) raised £50,000 to set up the company.⁠[3]

Frank Graham became managing director of Kainos in early 1987, having previously been marketing director at Software Ireland in Belfast. He was initially the company’s only employee; staff numbers reached about 14 in the first year and roughly doubled the next. QUBIS helped set up the company, an arrangement that matched Queen’s University Belfast graduates with ICL’s shortage of software delivery capacity.⁠[4]

Brendan Mooney joined Kainos as a software engineer in 1989, later moved to Dublin to establish the company’s Irish operation, returned to Belfast in 2000 and became managing director in 2001.⁠[5]

He took charge during the dotcom collapse, when Fujitsu, the largest shareholder, accounted for more than 90% of the company’s business and that market then collapsed. With the support of the board and staff, the company rebuilt its customer base first in Ireland and then in the UK.⁠[3]

In the mid-1990s Kainos began developing its own product, Kainos Knowledge; by 2001 it had about 250 staff and was producing software for a number of large organisations.⁠[4]

In March 2000 ACT Venture Capital bought a 31% stake in Kainos Software from ICL for an undisclosed price, leaving QUBIS as the largest shareholder with 49% and ICL with 20%. The company then specialised in custom-built customer relationship management and e-commerce systems and had more than 200 employees at its Belfast headquarters and offices in Dublin and London.⁠[6]

The products business was spun out as Meridio in June 2001 with the involvement of ACT Venture Capital, and Frank Graham became Meridio’s managing director. In October 2007 Meridio was sold to Autonomy Corporation; ACT expected to realise more than $25 million, about $20 million up front and about $5 million through a 12-month earn-out.⁠[7][4]

Kainos had wholly owned SpeechStorm, a speech recognition company serving contact centres, until a 2010 management buyout led by SpeechStorm chief executive Oliver Lennon and backed by Crescent Capital, in which Kainos sold a majority stake and after which it had no operational role. In December 2015 Genesys acquired SpeechStorm and Kainos sold its remaining stake for £2 million in cash, with a further small sum held in escrow; SpeechStorm had revenue of £2.3 million in the year to March 2015.⁠[8]

Kainos states that it has been endorsed by WorkdayWorkdayWorkday is a US enterprise software company founded in 2005 by Aneel Bhusri and Dave Duffield; it provides cloud applications and AI agents for HR, finance and IT, is headquartered in Pleasanton, California, and is listed on Nasdaq under the ticker WDAY.Open the full entry since 2011 and is one of the Workday community’s first partners, with an alliance dating back to when Workday was five years old.⁠[9]

In June 2014 the company announced that Kainos Smart, its automated testing product for Workday configurations, had gained its tenth new customer about seven months after launch; the company said the product could cut the testing associated with a Workday implementation by up to 50%.⁠[10]

In February 2015 Kainos announced plans to create more than 400 jobs in Belfast and Derry.⁠[11]

On July 7, 2015, Kainos Group Limited (to be re-registered as Kainos Group plc) priced its initial public offering at 139 pence per share. Selling shareholders, including QUBIS, former employees, executive directors and other individuals, sold 37,691,763 shares for gross proceeds of about £52.4 million, valuing the existing 116,039,360 shares at about £161.3 million. Investec Bank plc acted as sole sponsor, financial adviser, bookrunner, underwriter and broker. After the offer QUBIS was expected to hold about 16.3% and directors and senior managers about 37.4%.⁠[1]

Before listing, the company had about 730 staff across seven offices and three divisions: Digital Services (mainly UK government and the private sector), Evolve (digital patient notes for the NHS acute sector) and Workday Implementation Services. In the year ended March 31, 2015, it had revenue of £60.8 million and profit before tax of £11.8 million.⁠[1]

On July 10, 2015, the shares began trading on the premium segment of the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market under the ticker KNOS. On admission 117,955,532 shares were in issue, including 1,160,393 shares allotted under the employee offer and 755,779 under the share incentive plan, giving an expected market capitalisation of about £164.0 million at the offer price. The company received estimated net proceeds of about £1.6 million from the employee offer, and the selling shareholders about £50.6 million.⁠[12]

At the time of listing the company served more than 140 clients, including Diageo, Travelex, NetflixNetflixNetflix is a U.S. entertainment company that offers streaming series, films, games, and live programming, headquartered in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997, it grew from online DVD rental into an international subscription entertainment service and also runs original content, advertising, and in-person experience businesses.Open the full entry and the NHS. Chief executive Brendan Mooney said a London listing made sense because most of the business was in the UK: about 6% of revenue came from Dublin, about 6% from the rest of Europe and the remainder from the UK.⁠[13]

As of June 2016, Kainos had about 860 staff in five countries and was described as Northern Ireland’s largest indigenous IT services company; that year it opened offices in Boston, Houston and Amsterdam, and its clients included the Metropolitan Museum in New York.⁠[3]

In July 2018 Kainos announced an £8 million research and development project to continue developing Kainos Smart, its automated testing platform for Workday’s cloud-based HR and financial management software; Invest Northern IrelandInvest Northern IrelandInvest Northern Ireland (Invest NI) is Northern Ireland’s regional economic development agency, a non-departmental public body and arm’s-length body of the Department for the Economy. It was established on April 1, 2002, under the Industrial Development Act (Northern Ireland) 2002 and is headquartered in Belfast.Open the full entry offered £2.4 million of R&D support, part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.⁠[14]

In June 2019 Kainos was promoted to the FTSE 250 index, becoming its only Northern Ireland-headquartered company, with a market capitalisation above £762 million. In the year to March 2019 its turnover rose 56% to £151.3 million and pre-tax profit rose 52% to £23.3 million; it had about 300 global clients, 11 offices across the UK, Europe and the US, and 1,300 staff.⁠[15]

In January 2020 Kainos’s market capitalisation rose above £1.011 billion, placing it among Northern Ireland’s billion-pound companies. In the six months to September 2019 group turnover was nearly £87 million and pre-tax profit more than £12.8 million; it employed 1,500 people worldwide and was a lead partner in Europe for Workday.⁠[2]

In June 2020 Kainos announced 133 jobs in Indianapolis and £650,000 to lease and fit out a new office, its first move into the US Midwest, with hiring expected to be completed by the end of 2024; the hub would support its Workday practice and Kainos Smart. The company then had about 1,715 staff worldwide, about 800 of them in Belfast.⁠[16]

Between June 2021 and February 2022 Kainos acquired Cloudator, a Nordic Workday partner (June 2021, 55 people); Une Consulting in Buenos Aires (September 2021, 42 people); Blackline Group, a US spend management specialist (January 2022, 50 people); and Planalyse, a Dutch Workday Adaptive Planning specialist (February 2022, six people), with a total net cash outflow of £16.8 million. In 2021 the Kainos Smart product line also launched Smart Audit.⁠[17]

In the year ended March 31, 2022, group revenue rose 29% to £302.6 million (prior year: £234.7 million); adjusted pre-tax profit was £58.8 million and statutory profit before tax £46.0 million; bookings were £349.8 million and contracted backlog £259.7 million. Digital Services revenue was £199.8 million and Workday Practice revenue £102.8 million (Workday Services £70.9 million, Smart products £31.9 million), and product annual recurring revenue (ARR) was £34.3 million. Headcount was 2,692 across 22 countries, with 731 active customers.⁠[17]

On June 19, 2023, Kainos announced that Brendan Mooney would step down as chief executive after the annual general meeting on September 21, 2023, and would not seek re-election to the board, after 22 years as CEO and 34 years with the company; Russell Sloan, director of the Digital Services division, would succeed him and join the board. Sloan joined Kainos as a trainee software engineer on June 21, 1999, and had led Digital Services since 2013, when it had 35 people; it had grown to about 1,600 people and generated more than 60% of company revenue in the latest financial year.⁠[18]

On September 21, 2023, the company confirmed that Sloan had become chief executive and joined the board after the AGM; then-chair Tom Burnet said Mooney would continue to assist the company until June 2024.⁠[19]

In the year ended March 31, 2024, group revenue rose 2% to £382.4 million (prior year: £374.8 million): Digital Services £213.1 million (down 5%), Workday Services £112.0 million (up 6%) and Workday Products £57.3 million (up 28%). Adjusted pre-tax profit was £77.2 million (prior year: £67.6 million) and statutory profit before tax £64.8 million; headcount was 2,995, active customers 930 and Workday Products ARR £60.5 million.⁠[20]

During the year the company acquired RapidIT-Cloudbera in June 2023, adding its Genie testing product; launched Employee Document Management in October 2023; and discontinued the standalone procurement consulting business that came with the Blackline acquisition, withdrawing about £5.5 million of revenue.⁠[20]

On July 25, 2024, Workday and Kainos announced an expanded strategic partnership to jointly develop and distribute apps through Built on Workday, a program Workday launched in June 2024. Kainos Smart Test, Kainos Smart Audit and Kainos Employee Document Management were listed on Workday Marketplace, and Workday sales teams in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific would be incentivised to introduce and co-sell Kainos products. Kainos then had more than 2,900 employees in 23 countries.⁠[21]

Under the enhanced partnership Kainos pays Workday annual fees of about £7.8 million, of which £5.2 million was charged in fiscal 2025.⁠[22]

With effect from September 24, 2024, Rosaleen Blair became chair of Kainos and of its Nominations Committee, and James Kidd became senior independent director; independent non-executive directors Tom Burnet and Andy Malpass left the board on completing their terms.⁠[23]

Born in Dublin, Blair founded the outsourcing company Alexander Mann Solutions and was its chief executive for 23 years; she joined the Kainos board in 2021 and had been deputy chair.⁠[24]

In December 2024 Russell Sloan stepped down as chief executive and Brendan Mooney succeeded him in the role.⁠[22]

In March 2025 Kainos cut 190 roles, about 7% of its global team; restructuring costs were £8.4 million, of which £3.0 million was paid in fiscal 2025, and the company estimated annual savings of £19.0 million, about two-thirds of which would be reinvested.⁠[22]

In the year ended March 31, 2025, group revenue fell 4% to £367.2 million: Digital Services £197.2 million (down 7%), Workday Services £98.7 million (down 12%) and Workday Products £71.3 million (up 24%). Adjusted pre-tax profit fell 15% to £65.6 million and statutory profit before tax was £48.6 million; there were 2,865 staff and contractors (2,796 employed), 1,094 active customers, and Workday Products ARR rose 20% to £72.6 million. The total dividend was 28.4 pence per share; year-end cash and treasury deposits were £133.7 million with no debt. The company completed a £30.0 million share buyback on May 9, 2025, and announced a new £30 million programme.⁠[22]

New public sector customers in the year included Network Rail, the Crown Prosecution Service, Ofwat and the University of CambridgeUniversity of CambridgeThe University of Cambridge is a university in Cambridge, England, United Kingdom. It gives 1209 as its founding date, is made up of Schools, Faculties, Departments and autonomous Colleges, and is a member of the Russell Group.Open the full entry, and the company won a new framework with Queen’s University Belfast; new commercial customers included NFU Mutual, Just Group and Rolls-Royce; the company won more than 80 AI and data contracts and its first Workday Services contracts in Australia and New Zealand.⁠[22]

On September 19, 2025, Kainos announced the acquisition of the Canadian consultancy Davis Pierrynowski Limited (Davis Pier) for an undisclosed price. Davis Pier, headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, was founded in 2014, employed about 120 people and worked for public sector and community organisations across Canada; before the deal Kainos’s Canadian digital services business had just over 100 staff, 60 of them in Canada. Kainos opened a Toronto hub in 2018 and had worked with Davis Pier on digital transformation projects in Canada’s public and healthcare sectors since 2022; Davis Pier joined the Digital Services division and kept its brand.⁠[25]

Kainos’s fiscal 2026 results show a cash outflow of £7.9 million for the acquisition, which contributed £4.6 million of revenue in the period.⁠[26]

In the year ended March 31, 2026, group revenue rose 17% to £431.1 million: Digital Services £241.7 million (56% of the total), Workday Services £107.6 million (25%) and Workday Products £81.7 million (19%). Statutory profit before tax was £58.1 million and adjusted pre-tax profit rose 2% to £67.1 million, an adjusted margin of 16%; statutory diluted earnings per share were 35.1 pence and the total dividend 29.6 pence per share, including a final dividend of 19.8 pence; year-end cash and treasury deposits were £89.1 million with no debt.⁠[26]

In the year bookings rose 32% to £505.3 million, contracted backlog rose 18% to £433.9 million, and Workday Products ARR rose 23% to £89.0 million; the company said it remained on track for ARR targets of £100 million by the end of 2026 and £200 million by the end of 2030. Year-end headcount was 3,475 staff and contractors (3,216 employed), with 1,253 active customers. By May 15, 2026, it had completed a buyback of 3,729,068 shares for £30.0 million, bringing the total returned across three programmes to £90.0 million, and the board had no current plans for a further programme. The results were published on May 18, 2026.⁠[26]

On August 18, 2026, Kainos issued a trading update for the period since March 31, 2026, raising its guidance for the year ending March 31, 2027: it expected revenue and adjusted pre-tax profit to be “comfortably ahead” of market expectations, with company-compiled consensus at £509.3 million of revenue and £77.1 million of adjusted pre-tax profit. The company said Workday Services and Workday Products had each grown revenue by double digits on the same period a year earlier and Digital Services was growing strongly; half-year results were scheduled for November 9, 2026.⁠[27]

Kainos describes itself as a UK-headquartered IT provider with three divisions: Digital Services, which provides technology solutions to public, commercial and healthcare customers; Workday Services, which deploys Workday’s finance, HR and planning products across Europe and North America; and Workday Products, which provides continuous control, assurance and optimisation for Workday and which the company says is trusted by more than 700 organisations.⁠[28]

Workday products listed on the company website include Kainos Smart, Smart Test, Smart Audit, Smart Shield, User Access Review and Employee Document Management; Digital Services offerings include digital advisory, user-centred design, cloud and engineering, data and AI, AI business solutions and managed services.⁠[29]

Kainos states that it is simultaneously a Workday approved service partner, software partner and Extend partner.⁠[9]

As of November 2026, the board members listed on the company’s investor relations pages also include chief financial officer Richard McCann (who joined in 2011), senior independent director and Audit Committee chair James Kidd, and independent non-executive director Shruthi Chindalur; senior management includes chief technology officer Tom Gray (joined 1990), chief people officer Colette Kidd (joined 1997) and Derek Brown, CEO of Workday Products.⁠[30]

Shruthi Chindalur joined the board in September 2025; Derek Brown joined in June 2026 to lead Workday Products, with Malachy Smith moving to an advisory role.⁠[26][30]

As of June 2016, Queen’s University Belfast was Kainos’s largest shareholder, with about 17% of the issued share capital.⁠[3]

In June 2016 Queen’s University Belfast awarded Brendan Mooney an honorary degree for services to business and commerce, describing Kainos as one of Northern Ireland’s biggest innovation success stories.⁠[5]

The listed company, Kainos Group plc, is registered in England and Wales (company number 09579188); it was incorporated on May 7, 2015, as Kainos Group Limited and has used its present name since July 7, 2015, with its registered office at 21 Farringdon Road, London.⁠[31]

The operating company, Kainos Software Limited, is registered in Northern Ireland (company number NI019370); it was incorporated on April 14, 1986, used the name Charneco Limited until January 1, 2000, and has its registered office at Kainos House, 4–6 Upper Crescent, Belfast, with registered activities of software development and IT consultancy.⁠[32]

Kainos: Official website: https://www.kainos.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[29]

X: Public account: https://x.com/KainosSoftware (opens in a new window).⁠[29]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kainos/ (opens in a new window).⁠[29]