REG - Kainos Group plc - Full Year Results
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RNS Number : 6145E Kainos Group plc 18 May 2026
18 May 2026
Kainos Group plc ('Kainos' or the 'Group')
Full year results for the year ended 31 March 2026
Kainos Group plc (KNOS), a UK-headquartered IT provider with expertise across
three divisions - Digital Services, Workday Services and Workday Products - is
pleased to announce its results for the year ended 31 March 2026.
Financial highlights
2026 2025 Change
Revenue £431.1m £367.2m +17%
Statutory profit before tax £58.1m £48.6m +19%
Adjusted pre-tax profit(( 1 (#_ftn1) )) £67.1m £65.6m +2%
Diluted earnings per share 35.1p 28.2p +24%
Adjusted diluted earnings per share 41.1p 38.3p +7%
Total dividend per share 29.6p 28.4p +4%
Bookings £505.3m £382.4m +32%
Product Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) £89.0m £72.6m +23%
Contracted backlog £433.9m £368.2m +18%
Cash(( 2 (#_ftn2) )) £89.1m £133.7m -33%
Strong sales execution has driven revenue growth across the Group, with profit
slightly ahead of expectations despite anticipated cost increases
= Revenue increased by 17% (16% organic, 19% ccy) to £431.1 million (2025:
£367.2 million).
= Adjusted pre-tax profit was 2% higher (5% ccy) at £67.1 million, with an
adjusted profit margin of 16% (2025: 18%).
· Following a series of large contract awards during the year, we
significantly increased the use of contractors and third-party suppliers to
support growth and provide delivery capacity. Contractor costs increased to
£18.5 million (2025: £4.5 million), while third-party supplier costs
increased to £30.1 million (2025: £14.7 million), including both short-term
capacity support and strategic supplier arrangements.
· In addition, the period included the first full year of investment in
our Built on Workday partnership, together with higher employee costs relating
to increased National Insurance contributions and elevated bonus payments
reflecting stronger business performance.
= Bookings grew by 32% to £505.3 million (2025: £382.4 million) and the
year-end contracted backlog rose 18% to £433.9 million (31 March 2025:
£368.2 million).
= Cash conversion of 99% (2025: 112%) contributed to a robust year-end cash
position((2)) of £89.1 million (2025: £133.7 million), after returning
£55.7 million through share buybacks, acquiring Davis Pierrynowski Limited
(Davis Pier), progressing construction of our Belfast HQ and paying
restructuring costs provided for in FY25.
= The current share buyback programme completed on 15 May 2026, with a total of
3,729,068 shares bought back for consideration of £30.0 million.
Operational highlights
Workday Products continued its rapid growth and is on track to reach our ARR
targets of £100 million by the end of 2026 and £200 million by the end of
2030
= Revenue rose 15% (19% ccy) to £81.7 million (2025: £71.3 million), with ARR
increasing by 23% (24% ccy) to £89.0 million (2025: £72.6 million).
= Reaching £100 million ARR will represent a significant milestone for the
business and one achieved by very few UK software companies. This progress
reflects the strength of the founding team and colleagues across the division,
led by Malachy Smith, whose vision, drive and leadership have been central to
building one of the UK's most scaled and successful software businesses.
o As we build towards our £200 million ARR target, we have invested in
the leadership team within the division, adding additional expertise and
experience to the team across several senior roles.
o These appointments include a Chief Marketing Officer (ex-Google,
Microsoft), Chief Product Officer (ex-UiPath, Optimizely), Chief Customer
Officer (ex-Mimecast, Veeva), and a Chief Revenue Officer (ex-Splunk, VMware).
o Derek Brown (ex-Quantexa, BAE) will join in June to lead this
expanded team, with Malachy transitioning to an advisory role in the Group
focused on new areas with significant growth potential.
= Workday Products now has nearly 700 customers (31 March 2025: more than 560)
with around 41% taking two or more products (31 March 2025: around 35%).
= We continued to invest in our products, with R&D expenditure rising by 11%
to £18.7 million (2025: £16.8 million), all of which was expensed in the
year. Sales and marketing spend increased by 21% to £18.7 million (2025:
£15.5 million), including £2.3 million of additional costs associated with
the first full year of our Workday partnership.
= Through an exclusive arrangement, Workday is reselling our new Pay
Transparency product to its customers, to help them meet the requirements of
the European Pay Transparency Directive which comes into force from next
month.
Digital Services returned to growth with significant contract wins in
healthcare and the public sector and continued expansion in North America
= Revenue increased by 23% (20% organic, 23% ccy) to £241.7 million (2025:
£197.2 million).
= Bookings were 29% higher at £261.3 million (2025: £202.0 million),
contributing to a year-end contracted backlog of £180.3 million (31 March
2025: £160.1 million).
= Public sector revenue rose by 11% to £136.0 million (2025: £122.1
million)( 3 (#_ftn3) ) and healthcare revenue was 55% up at £74.9 million
(2025: £48.2 million), with both sectors benefiting from large new contract
wins including programmes with the Home Office, Department for Transport,
Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency and NHS England.
= During the year, we deprioritised acquiring new commercial customers to invest
in growth opportunities in other parts of Digital Services. As a result,
commercial sector revenue was 41% lower at £10.7 million (2025: £18.0
million).
= Revenue in North America was 127% higher at £20.2 million (2025: £8.9
million), with strong organic growth (75%) and a six-month contribution from
Davis Pier, a consultancy specialising in addressing complex challenges for
public sector and community organisations.
Workday Services also returned to growth in FY26, due to a strong sales
performance and our focus on more complex deployments where we have deep
expertise
= We are a leading Workday consulting specialist, the seventh(( 4 (#_ftn4) ))
largest globally by certified consultant numbers.
= Revenue increased by 9% (12% ccy) to £107.6 million (2025: £98.7 million),
with 12% growth in the Americas. EMEA revenue was down 1% but the trend is
improving, with sequential growth each half year since H2 2025.
= We continued to make good progress in new markets, with revenue in Australia
and New Zealand growing quickly and opportunities emerging in Latin America.
= Bookings increased by 44% to £121.8 million (2025: £84.6 million), with a
contracted backlog of £74.9 million at the year end (31 March 2025: £59.3
million).
We continue to benefit from our geographical breadth, with international
markets generating 41% of Group revenue (2025: 41%)
= International revenue rose by 18% to £177.2 million (2025: £149.9 million).
= Workday Services and Workday Products have particularly strong international
customer bases, which generate 83% of their aggregate revenues (2025: 81%).
Excellent service drives customer satisfaction and retention
= Our customers continued to rate our services as 'excellent', with a Net
Promoter Score of 61 (2025: 70).
= Existing customers generated revenue of £370.0 million (2025: £299.4
million), up 24%, representing 86% of Group revenue (2025: 82%).
= Customer numbers increased to 1,253 at the year end (31 March 2025: 1,094).
Engaged and committed colleagues underpin our business performance
= We have 3,475 people (31 March 2025: 2,865) across 17 countries, with the
increase reflecting organic growth and the 120 colleagues who joined us with
Davis Pier.
= The number of employed staff rose from 2,796 at 31 March 2025 to 3,216 at the
year end.
= Employee retention remains strong at 90% (2025: 93%), supported by high
engagement of 77% (2025: 75%) in our internal surveys.
Continued growth in our AI business, as we help customers responsibly harness
its potential
= Revenues for AI- and data-related projects increased 11% to £45.8 million
(2025: £41.1 million) and now represent 19% of Digital Services' revenue
(2025: 21%).
= To date, we have delivered over 400 AI and data projects, including 158 in
FY26.
= Since 2018, Kainos has been the seventh largest supplier of AI to the UK
public sector, with over £66 million in awarded contracts.
= We continue to invest in our Responsible AI capabilities and are doubling the
size of the Kainos Responsible AI team to support safe, responsible, and
scalable adoption of AI by our customers.
= We launched a Workday AI Centre of Excellence, building on our founding
membership of Workday's Agent Partner Network and deep expertise across
Workday Services and Products.
Current trading and outlook
= We operate in markets with clear long-term structural drivers, as
organisations increasingly seek to harness technology to improve their service
quality and productivity, and reduce cost.
= Our near-term performance is supported by a healthy pipeline, a significant
contracted backlog and a strong balance sheet.
= In FY27, we expect:
- Continued momentum in Workday Products, including achieving our initial
ARR targetof £100 million by the end of 2026.
- Further growth in Digital Services, led by our public sector and
healthcare segments in the UK and our strengthened position in North
America.
- Another positive year for Workday Services, as we continue to focus
on complex deployments for customers and consulting activities linked to our
own products, coupled with further progress in our newer international
markets.
Commenting on the results, CEO Brendan Mooney said:
"This was a positive year for Kainos, with excellent revenue growth. Our
strong customer relationships and significant contracted backlog position us
well for further progress in the year ahead.
"Workday Products remains a key growth driver. We are on track to surpass
£100 million of ARR by the end of 2026 and reach £200 million of ARR by
2030. Our investment in product development is delivering results and we have
further strengthened our relationship with Workday through our exclusive
arrangement for it to resell our new Pay Transparency product to its
customers.
"Technology remains the cornerstone of the UK Government's plans to make
public services better, more efficient and easier to access. Our major
contract wins in the year reflect our expertise and track record in the public
and healthcare sectors. We are also excited about the potential in North
America, bolstered by the addition of Davis Pier in Canada.
"Workday Services has regained momentum, as we have focused on the more
complex deployments where we have deep expertise and can add real value for
customers. We delivered strong growth in North America, a stable performance
in Europe and continued to expand in our other international markets.
"Our achievements are based on enduring customer relationships and our engaged
and talented workforce. We are grateful for our customers' continued trust in
us and our colleagues' dedication and energy."
For further information, please contact:
Kainos
via FTI Consulting LLP
Brendan Mooney, Chief Executive Officer
Richard McCann, Chief Financial Officer
Investec Bank plc
+44 20 7597 5970
Patrick Robb / Nick Prowting / Arnav Kapoor
FTI Consulting LLP
+44 20 3727 1000
Dwight Burden / Kwaku Aning
About Kainos Group plc
Kainos Group plc is a UK-headquartered provider of sophisticated IT services
to major public sector, commercial and healthcare customers and a developer of
software applications. Our shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange
(LSE: KNOS).
Our expertise spans three divisions:
= Digital Services develops and supports custom digital service platforms, which
help customers solve key business problems such as the need to improve their
service, reduce costs and increase productivity.
= Workday Services is a respected Workday partner, providing a comprehensive
range of services to support customers deploying Workday's Finance, HR and
Planning products.
= Workday Products develops proprietary software products that complement
Workday, by enhancing our customers' system security and compliance and
improving their document generation and storage.
Our purpose
Our purpose is to help our customers with their most challenging projects and,
together with our partners, help them build the capability to succeed in the
digital age.
Find out more
You can discover more about us at www.kainos.com (http://www.kainos.com) .
Definition of terms
We use the following definitions for our key metrics and other terms:
Active customer: a customer who has signed a contract with us within the last
three months or has generated revenue in the last six months.
Adjusted earnings per share (basic and diluted): adjusted profit after tax
divided by the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding (basic)
or weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding after adjustment for
the effects of all dilutive potential ordinary shares (diluted).
Adjusted EBITDA: adjusted pre-tax profit excluding interest, tax, depreciation
of property, plant and equipment, and right-of-use assets, and amortisation of
intangible assets.
Adjusted pre-tax profit: profit before tax excluding the effect of share-based
payment expense, acquisition-related expenses including amortisation of
acquired intangible assets, deferred consideration (including post combination
remuneration expense) and restructuring costs incurred.
Adjusted profit margin: adjusted profit as a percentage of revenue for the
period.
Agentic AI: refers to intelligent systems that can autonomously plan, decide
and act to achieve defined goals, working across multiple steps and systems
with minimal human intervention. These agents combine reasoning, learning and
action capabilities to deliver outcomes, not just insights, while operating
within clear ethical, governance and organisational boundaries.
Annual recurring revenue (ARR): the total of the annualised committed
subscription value contracted at the end of the reporting period.
Bookings: the total value of sales contracted during the period.
Carbon net zero: any CO(2) released into the atmosphere from a company's
entire value chain is reduced as much as possible and the rest is removed.
Carbon neutral: any CO(2) released into the atmosphere from a company's entire
value chain activities is balanced by an equivalent amount being removed.
Cash conversion: cash generated from operating activities as a percentage of
adjusted EBITDA.
Constant currency (ccy): excludes the effect of foreign currency exchange rate
fluctuations on period-on-period performance by translating the relevant prior
period figure at current period average exchange rates.
Contracted backlog: the value of contracted revenue that has yet to be
recognised.
Compound annual growth rate (CAGR): annual growth rate over a specified period
of time.
Existing customer revenue: total revenue recognised from customers in the
current period who were also customers in the preceding year.
International revenue: total revenue derived from locations outside of UK and
Ireland.
Near-term net zero: making science-based cuts to our day-to-day emissions in
the short term, prioritising real reductions that set us on a credible path to
full carbon net zero across our business.
Net promoter score (NPS): a metric that organisations use to measure customer
loyalty towards their brand, product or service, which can range from -100 to
+100. Bain & Co, the creators of the metric, held that a score above 0 is
good; 20+ is favourable; 50+ is excellent and 80+ is world-class.
Net revenue retention (NRR): a metric that measures the percentage of revenue
retained from existing customers over a period of 12 months, including
upsells, downgrades and churn.
Organic revenue: our revenue excluding revenue from acquisitions completed in
the current and comparative reporting periods.
Software as a service (SaaS): a software distribution model that delivers
application programmes over the internet, with users typically accessing the
programme through a web browser. Users pay an ongoing subscription to use the
software rather than purchasing it once and installing it.
Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi): a target for reducing greenhouse
gases and CO(2) emissions which is aligned with the global effort to limit
global warming to 1.5°C.
Kainos at a glance
Our three divisions give us significant diversification by business type,
sector, geography and customers. This exposes us to a broad range of growth
opportunities, while helping to reduce risk.
Our operating divisions
Digital Services
Digital Services addresses customers' business challenges by developing and
supporting customised digital services for them. We deliver large, complex
projects that focus on improving customer service and productivity, while
ensuring the platforms are secure, accessible and cost effective.
Our public sector projects are often part of the UK's national IT
infrastructure, helping more than 60 million users while saving customers
hundreds of millions of pounds. In healthcare, our solutions enable faster,
more cost-effective and patient-focused services.
We serve over 120 customers, including the Home Office, the government of
Ontario, Rolls-Royce, the Crown Prosecution Service, DEFRA, NHS England and
the UK Health Security Agency. In the UK public healthcare system, we work for
more than 45 national, regional and local bodies, and clinical research
institutes.
Workday Services
As one of Workday Inc's most-respected partners, we deploy its Finance, HR and
Planning products to our clients in Europe and North America, with a growing
presence in Asia Pacific. Our experience in complex deployment and
integrations means customers trust us to launch, test and extend their Workday
systems.
Since becoming a Workday partner in 2011, we have grown into one of the
largest globally, with teams in 17 countries and more than 600 customers
worldwide.
We are proud to work with organisations such as Glencore (Canada), Daniel J.
Edelman Holdings (USA), Natura (Brazil), City of Helsinki (Finland), Perth
Airport (Australia) and Miller Insurance (UK).
Workday Products
We develop SaaS products that complement Workday's platform and are part of
its Built on Workday program. We have two areas of focus.
First, our market-leading suite of Smart products solves key operational
challenges for Workday customers around Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC)
management and controls:
= Smart Test (launched in 2014): Creates automated, customised tests for a
customer's unique Workday configuration.
= Smart Audit (2021): Delivers automated, always-on security and compliance
controls and monitoring for Workday customers.
= Smart Shield (2022): Patented solution which ensures privacy and control of
sensitive data to deliver effective Workday reports.
Second, we have two software solutions that extend the functionality of
Workday to address important use cases for HR teams:
= Employee Document Management (2024): Delivers a compliant, automated, digital
employee document solution, reducing administration and accelerating employee
onboarding.
= Pay Transparency Analyzer (2025): Enables customers to comply with the new EU
Pay Transparency Directive. This was built by Kainos for Workday as part of
our key strategic partnership and is sold directly by Workday to their global
customer base.
Almost 700 customers use at least one of our products, including: State of
Georgia (USA), Genesys (USA), Bupa (UK), Skyscanner (UK) and Julius Baer
(Switzerland).
Revenue by division
Workday Products: FY26 revenue: £81.7 million, 19% of Group total, five-year
growth: 26% CAGR.
Digital Services: FY26 revenue: £241.7 million, 56% of Group total, five-year
growth: 5% CAGR.
Workday Services: FY26 revenue: £107.6 million, 25% of Group total, five-year
growth: 11% CAGR.
Our people and customers
People
• Number of staff and contractors: 3,475 (2025: 2,865).
· Number of employed staff: 3,216 (2025: 2,796).
• Employee retention: 90% (2025: 93%).
• People by region:
· UK & Ireland (66%)
· Central Europe (12%)
· Americas (18%)
· Rest of World (4%)
• People by division:
· Digital Services (52%)
· Workday Services (21%)
· Workday Products (21%)
· Central Services (6%)
Customers
• Active customers: 1,253 (2025: 1,094).
• Net Promoter Score: 61 (2025: 70).
• Revenue from existing customers: 86% (2025: 82%).
• Our customers by sector (revenue):
· Commercial sector: 47% (2025: 52%)
· Public sector: 35% (2025: 34%)
· Healthcare: 18% (2025: 14%)
• Our customers by region (revenue):
· UK & Ireland: 59% (2025: 59%)
· North America: 32% (2025: 31%)
· Central Europe: 8% (2025: 9%)
· Rest of World: 1% (2025: 1%)
CEO statement
"The Group performed strongly in FY26, giving us momentum as we enter our new
financial year. We see great opportunities ahead for each of our divisions, as
we help our customers deploy technology to solve their critical business
issues."
Brendan Mooney
Chief Executive Officer
A positive year
This was a good year for Kainos, with our excellent sales performance driving
strong revenue growth of 17%, to £431.1 million. Overall bookings increased
by 32% to £505.3 million and our backlog at the year end was £433.9 million,
up 18%, which gives us confidence and momentum going into FY27.
Workday Products continued its excellent growth, with revenue increasing by
15% to £81.7 million. We passed the industry milestone of $100 million of ARR
(approximately £75 million), which only around 1% of SaaS companies achieve.
At 31 March 2026, ARR was £89.0 million and we are making strong progress
towards our targets of £100 million by the end of 2026 and £200 million by
the end of 2030. We have continued to deepen our partnership with Workday,
which is reselling our newly developed Pay Transparency product to its
customers. We have also significantly strengthened the divisional leadership
team, recruiting senior talent to support the next phase of growth.
Digital Services' revenue rose by 23% to £241.7 million. The healthcare
sector was particularly strong (up 55%), with public sector revenue growing by
11%. Both sectors benefited from substantial contract wins in the year.
Digital Services also continued to grow rapidly in North America, supported by
the acquisition of Davis Pier, a specialist consultancy in Canada that
significantly enhances our position.
Workday Services increased revenue by 9% to £107.6 million, with growth in
North America and good progress with newer markets including Australia, New
Zealand and Latin America. Revenue in EMEA was 1% lower but the trend is
improving, with sequential growth each half year since H2 2025.
The level of growth has required us to employ contractors and third-party
consultants to provide capacity, which reduced margins in the year. We have
also seen additional costs from higher employers' National Insurance,
increased bonuses as a result of our better results, and the first full year
of investment to support our Workday partnership. As a consequence, adjusted
pre-tax profit was 2% higher at £67.1 million. As we replace temporary
contractors with full-time employees over the course of the year, we
anticipate clear margin improvement.
We have continued to invest in the business, including in our product
portfolio, acquiring Davis Pier and also starting construction of our new
Belfast headquarters. Our financial strength and cash generation also allowed
us to return £56.2 million to shareholders through two buyback programmes,
while retaining £89.1 million of net cash at the year end.
Supporting our customers
At the end of FY26, we had 1,253 active customers across the Group, up from
1,094 at 31 March 2025. This success reflects our excellent service delivery,
as shown by our Net Promoter Score of 61 (2025: 70). We support our customers
best when we focus on the areas where we can add most value: large-scale
digital transformation projects in the public sector and healthcare, complex
Workday implementations and new software products that enable our customers to
do more with their Workday platforms. We greatly appreciate our customer
loyalty, with 86% of Group revenue in the year coming from existing customers,
demonstrating the strength of our relationships.
The application of AI-enabled solutions is becoming integral to digital
transformation and we are committed to using it responsibly for our customers.
We have strengthened our AI-related governance and expanded our Responsible AI
team, which helps us to manage AI risks and support customers to adopt AI
safely.
As new technologies, such as AI, create opportunities for us and our
customers, we have refocused our innovation team. We identify emerging trends
with long-term potential and combine these with customer challenges,
translating both into solutions with our divisions and validating their impact
directly with customers. This brings innovation closer to our customers and
enables faster identification of the highest potential opportunities.
People
The Group ended the year with around 3,475 people, up from 2,865 at the end of
FY25. This reflects both our organic growth and the 120 colleagues we welcomed
from Davis Pier. The number of people employed increased from around 2,800 to
3,216 and we continue to recruit talented people, as we reduce our reliance on
contractors to provide capacity.
Kainos has a positive culture, which is one of our greatest strengths. Our
employee engagement remains high at 77% (2025: 75%) and retention is strong at
90% (2025: 93%). We are investing in development, promoting from within and
strengthening our teams with key hires, ensuring the Group has the next
generation of leadership in place.
Being a responsible business
Creating social value is inherent to our business. Our work to improve public
and healthcare services makes life better for citizens and reduces the cost to
taxpayers. At the same time, we help our public sector and healthcare
customers to tackle economic, social and environmental issues that are
important to them, throughout the life of our contracts. As well as being the
right thing to do, creating measurable social value is a key criterion on
which our bids are judged, and we perform consistently well in this area.
We have continued our initiatives to inspire the next generation of technology
leaders through our educational outreach, with more than 1,900 young people
taking part this year. One of our goals is to encourage people from
under-represented groups to consider a technology career, including continuing
to attract young women into the industry. Women currently make up 37% of our
workforce (2025: 36%), which is ahead of the average of 21% in UK tech team
roles but shows we still have more to do.
Kainos' commitment to climate action remains strong. We achieved our
near‑term, science‑based net zero targets as planned in FY26, delivering a
75% reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions and a 45% reduction in Scope 3
emissions (intensity‑based) from our FY20 base year. This progress was
delivered despite the acquisition of Davis Pier, the start of construction of
our new headquarters building and continued business growth during the year.
Building on this momentum, we intend to set new science-based targets to drive
further emissions reductions. This year, we also maintained our Carbon
Disclosure Project (CDP) B‑rating (2025: B‑rating).
Board changes
We were delighted to welcome Shruthi Chindalur as a Non-Executive Director in
September 2025. She has more than 20 years' experience in the technology, SaaS
and AdTech sectors, giving her invaluable expertise in software and global
markets. She is already making a valuable contribution to our Board
discussions and we look forward to working with her in the years ahead.
Since the year end, Katie Davis has informed us that she will step down as a
Non-Executive Director following the Annual General Meeting in September 2026.
We are very grateful for her energy, insight and guidance during the nearly
seven years she has been on the Board.
Outlook
While the macroeconomic and geopolitical environment remains uncertain, we are
encouraged by the momentum in the business, which is underpinned by our
substantial contracted backlog as we enter our new financial year. We expect
further strong growth in Workday Products and continued progress in Digital
Services and Workday Services, resulting in another positive year for Kainos.
Looking further ahead, we see great opportunities for all our divisions. There
are powerful structural drivers in our markets, as organisations seek the
benefits of deploying technology to solve their critical business issues.
AI is reshaping enterprise technology. We believe the next decade will not be
defined by AI replacing people or compressing services, but by organisations
needing partners they can trust to deploy AI responsibly inside their most
important systems: those that deliver public services, treat patients and
serve customers. That work rewards depth, judgement and accountability rather
than scale alone, and it is the work Kainos has built its reputation on.
We see AI as the most significant opportunity in our markets since the move to
cloud. We expect a growing share of our work to involve embedding AI
capabilities into the platforms our customers already rely on and building
software products in which AI is a defining feature rather than an add‑on.
Our Digital Services, Workday Products and Workday Services businesses,
together with our AI Centres of Excellence, position us to advise and assist
our customers on their AI. While Microsoft and Workday remain core to our
delivery, we are actively building partnerships with other leading AI
providers to ensure our customers benefit from the best, most appropriate,
technology as the AI landscape continues to evolve. The strength of our
customer relationships, our domain expertise and our track record of
responsible delivery mean we are well placed to play a central role for our
customers.
Thank you
As always, I would like to express my appreciation to our customers and
colleagues. We are grateful for the trust and confidence our customers
continue to place in Kainos, and for the continued engagement and commitment
our colleagues have shown throughout the year.
Brendan Mooney
Chief Executive Officer
Our Strategy
Our ambition is to be a global, independent company operating towards the
disruptive end of technology, that will thrive today and for generations. By
pursuing this ambition, we believe we can achieve long-term growth in revenue,
adjusted pre-tax profit and cash flow.
The Group strategy has three key pillars: our people, the markets we operate
in and our customers. Our priorities within each pillar are set out below,
along with the key metrics we use to measure our progress.
People
People are the fundamental component of our strategy. Our long-term success
depends on their talent, skill and motivation, and having the capacity to
deliver our customer contracts.
Strategic priorities How we measure progress
• Maintain a positive culture and high employee engagement. Our key metrics include:
• Ensure effective talent acquisition, development and succession • Total headcount: 3,475 (+610)
planning.
• Number of employed staff: 3,216 (+420)
• Continue to establish Kainos as a global company, by ensuring
consistency of standards and processes. • Employee engagement: 77% (+2 pts)
• Employee retention: 90% (-3 pts)
Markets
We focus on dynamic, higher-growth markets where the talents of our people
shine brightest. In building for the long term, we:
= expect to continue to grow our international presence;
= prefer organic growth and only acquire businesses in exceptional
circumstances, such as when we need to obtain unique skills; and
= aim to have a well-balanced business, which is not overly reliant on any one
market, region or sector.
Workday Products
Strategic priorities How we measure progress
• Increase the number of Workday customers who use our software. Our key metrics include:
• Ensure high levels of customer satisfaction, driving strong NRR. • Workday Products revenue growth: 15%
• Invest in our existing products and develop additional products • ARR: £89.0 million (+23%)
within the Workday ecosystem.
• Number of Workday Products customers: 696 (+130)
• Continue to work with Workday to increase the scope and impact
of our Built on Workday partnership. • Investment in Products R&D: £18.7 million (+11%)
• Investment in Products sales and marketing: £18.7 million (+21%)
Digital Services
Strategic priorities How we measure progress
• Grow within the public and healthcare sectors, by engaging in Our key metrics include:
transformation projects across UK Government and the NHS.
• Digital Services revenue growth: +23%
• Expand internationally, focused initially on Canada.
• Public sector revenue growth: +11%
• Healthcare revenue growth: +55%
• North America revenue growth: +127%, +138% ccy, +75% organic
• Backlog: £180.3 million (+13%)
Workday Services
Strategic priorities How we measure progress
• Grow in our established markets, as Workday continues to expand Our key metrics include:
within these markets.
• Workday Services revenue growth: +9%
• Grow internationally, establishing operations in countries with
large and growing numbers of Workday customers. • North America revenue growth: +12%, +17% ccy
• EMEA revenue growth: -1%, -1% ccy
• Backlog: £74.9 million (+26%)
New opportunities
Strategic priorities How we measure progress
• Develop opportunities, using our structured innovation process Our key metrics include:
to identify and promote ideas that have the potential to become sizeable
revenue streams. • 27 opportunities identified across North America, EMEA, and the UK.
• Associated pipeline value of £4.7 million.
• 35+ concepts and accelerators validated with customers, with 7 developed
into reusable patterns that can be redeployed across engagements.
• Launched the Workday AI Centre of Excellence.
Customers
Consistently delivering for our customers helps us to build long-lasting,
mutually beneficial relationships that will see us thrive as a business.
Strategic priorities How we measure progress
• Ensure we understand customers' evolving needs, so we can Our key metrics include:
continue to provide the exemplary service that underpins our repeat revenue.
• Total revenue: £431.1 million (+17%)
• Invest in innovation, so we can deliver new Workday Products and
deploy the latest technologies in our Digital Services engagements. • Customer Net Promoter Score: 61 (-9 pts)
• Percentage of revenue from existing customers: 86% (+4 pts)
• Number of active customers: 1,253 (+159)
Operational Review
Our overall performance
The Group had a positive year in FY26, with revenue up 17% driven by strong
sales performances in all divisions.
Workday Products continued its rapid expansion, with revenue up 15% and ARR
increasing by 23% (+24% ccy) to £89.0 million. We remain on track for our ARR
targets of £100 million by the end of 2026 and £200 million by the end of
2030.
Digital Services' revenue grew 23% (23% ccy, 20% organic), with an excellent
performance in healthcare and the public sector returning to growth. North
America continued its momentum and benefited from the acquisition of Davis
Pier in September 2025.
Workday Services' revenue was 9% higher, driven by strong growth in North
America more than offsetting a 1% revenue decline in EMEA. We continue to make
progress in our new markets in Australia, New Zealand and Latin America.
Adjusted pre-tax profit increased by 2% (+5% ccy) to £67.1 million, resulting
in a 16% margin (2025: 18%). The reduced margin reflected several factors,
including:
= our short-term use of contractors (+£14.0 million) and third-party suppliers
(+£15.4 million), to give us additional capacity. We are recruiting to fill
these positions and expect to displace many of these contractor-related costs
during FY27 as we hire permanent staff members;
= a full year of investment to support our Workday partnership (+£2.3 million);
= increased employer National Insurance costs (+£3.0 million); and
= higher bonuses, due to our better performance in the year (+£11.5 million).
We also continued to invest to support the growth of our software products.
See Workday Products performance below for details.
Bookings rose 32% to £505.3 million (2025: £382.4 million) and we ended the
year with a record contracted backlog of £433.9 million, up 18% (31 March
2025: £368.2 million). As discussed in the Digital Services section below,
customers are increasingly awarding larger multi-year contracts.
The Group is highly cash generative with cash conversion remaining high at 99%
(2025: 112%) despite payment of restructuring costs provided for in FY25, and
higher working capital due to our revenue growth.
At 31 March 2026, we had cash (including treasury deposits) of £89.1 million
(31 March 2025: £133.7 million). During the year, our strong balance sheet
enabled us to return £56.2 million to shareholders through share buybacks,
invest £5.9 million in constructing our new Belfast office and acquire Davis
Pier. In total, we have returned £90.0 million via share buybacks over the
last 18 months.
Workday Products performance
Good sales execution and strong growth in newer products resulted in a 15%
increase in revenue (19% ccy) to £81.7 million (2025: £71.3 million), and
the 23% growth in ARR described above. Revenue from consulting services
related to our EDM product is now reported within Workday Services, who are
better placed to deliver implementation services as the product scales. For
comparison purposes, the growth rate excluding EDM services would have been
18%.
Almost 700 customers now use our products, with around 41% taking more than
one. The year-end backlog increased 20% to £178.7 million (31 March 2025:
£148.7 million).
Workday Products generates a high gross margin, giving us capacity to invest
for further growth. Our R&D investment rose by 11% to £18.7 million
(2025: £16.8 million) and our product-related sales and marketing investment
(including £7.5 million of Built on Workday partnership costs) was £18.7
million, up 21% (2025: £15.5 million). The total investment in our software
products was therefore £37.4 million (2025: £32.3 million), an increase of
16%. This investment was fully expensed.
Our investment has enabled us to increase the pace of new product introduction
in recent years and to develop a deeper relationship with Workday, through the
strategic partnership we formed in FY25. In October 2025 Workday announced a
new customer solution called "Pay Transparency Analyzer powered by Kainos".
Workday is exclusively selling our new Pay Transparency product through its
salesforce, making it a highly cost-effective route to the broadest possible
market for us. The launch has gone well, with more than 30 customers signed up
by the year end.
To ensure we have the leadership capacity and capability to support Workday
Products' growth, we have added significantly to the senior team during the
year. This has included hiring new leaders for the product, marketing, risk
and technology functions.
We currently charge for our software products based on user numbers. While
this has worked well to date our market is evolving, for example as AI enables
customers to reduce headcount or slow its growth. We have numerous options to
adapt our pricing, such as usage-based or consumption models, to ensure it
continues to reflect the value our customers receive. We continue to review
our approach and do not expect any change to the overall level of our pricing.
Digital Services performance
Digital Services had a strong year, with revenue increasing by 23% (20%
organic, 23% ccy) to £241.7 million (2025: £197.2 million). Bookings rose by
29% to £261.3 million (2025: £202.0 million) and the contracted backlog at
the year end was £180.3 million, up 13% (31 March 2025: £160.1 million).
In both the public and healthcare sectors, customers are increasingly awarding
larger and longer contracts. Our success in FY26 reflects our strategic focus
on these high-value opportunities, which deliver greater returns relative to
the effort required to win them. At the same time, we remain selective about
pursuing smaller contracts when they provide an entry point with new
customers, enabling us to establish relationships and expand our engagement
over time.
Public sector
Public sector revenue grew 11% to £136.0 million (2025: £122.1 million), as
we secured significant new multi-year programmes in FY26. These included
contracts with:
= the Home Office, to support the digital infrastructure for managing people and
goods at the UK border;
= the Department for Transport, to run, maintain and improve its bus data
services; and
= the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), to deliver a platform making
it easier to schedule driving tests.
We also continued to win new work with other central government departments,
including the Ministry of Defence.
We were pleased that the quality of our work was recognised in the year. In
partnership with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, we
won the Digital Transformation Project of the Year at the 2025 Digital
Revolution Awards. The project created a robust new digital inspection system,
to protect the UK's biosecurity while maintaining the flow of vital
agricultural and food imports into the UK.
Healthcare sector
Revenue was up 55% to £74.9 million (2025: £48.2 million). While the
Government is working through its plan to bring NHS England (NHSE) back into
its direct control, we have not seen any disruption to contract awards and the
overall direction is for even greater use of technology in the health service,
as described below.
During the year we won significant contracts with NHSE, including a Digital
Health Checks project through NHS England's Digital Prevention Service
Portfolio (DPSP). The project will improve access to vaccinations and
screenings through the NHS App and accelerate the delivery of personalised,
preventative healthcare in line with the Government's 10 Year Health Plan for
England.
The 10 Year Health Plan includes a commitment to make the NHS "the most
digitally accessible health system in the world". This has led to renewed
focus and investment in a number of areas, as the Government looks to shift
the NHS focus from treatment to prevention, and from analogue to digital.
Kainos is well positioned to win work in these areas of investment, such as
preventative healthcare, genomics, health data and AI.
Commercial sector
The commercial sector is the smallest in Digital Services and the market has
been subdued for several years. We therefore deprioritised the sector for
growth in FY26, which has benefited our performance in healthcare and the
public sector by allowing us to redeploy our people to focus on those
opportunities. We continue to support our existing commercial customers.
Revenue in the year was £10.7 million (2025: £18.0 million) representing 4%
of divisional revenue.
North America
Our international Digital Services business is primarily in North America, in
particular Canada. Revenue continued to grow rapidly, with a 127% increase
(138% ccy) to £20.2 million (2025: £8.9 million). This included an initial
contribution from Davis Pier, which we acquired in September 2025. On an
organic basis, revenue growth was 75%.
Davis Pier is a high-growth Canadian consultancy that specialises in
addressing complex challenges for public sector and community organisations
across Canada. We knew the business well, having partnered with Davis Pier
since 2022. We have strong shared values and cultures that prioritise
customers, people and impact, and we were delighted to welcome its team of 120
people to our Digital Services division. The integration has gone well and the
business has performed in line with our expectations since we acquired it.
We see continuing strong growth potential in Canada, which needs to invest in
digital government, where it currently ranks 47th globally versus seventh for
the UK. Our focus to date has mainly been in Nova Scotia, which has a
population of around 1 million. We are now also targeting Alberta (5 million)
and Ontario (16 million), giving us significant scope to grow. In the medium
term, our ambition is to achieve annual revenue of £50 million.
Workday Services performance
We are a leading Workday partner in Europe and a full services partner in the
US, which is Workday's biggest market. At the year end we had 944 accredited
Workday consultants (31 March 2025: 809).
Workday Services' revenue was 9% higher (12% ccy) at £107.6 million (2025:
£98.7 million). Excluding the EDM-related services revenue previously
reported within Workday Products, revenue was 6% higher. Revenue in North
America grew strongly, with a 12% increase, and the region generated 52% of
divisional revenue (2025: 51%). EMEA revenue was 1% lower and accounted for
44% of divisional revenue (2025: 49%).
Sales bookings increased by 44% to £121.8 million (2025: £84.6 million) and
the contracted backlog at the year end was £74.9 million (31 March 2025:
£59.3 million). The strong sales performance in the year reflected our focus
on our core strengths in complex deployments, which helped us to win more
large consulting contracts.
In December 2025, we announced that we are expanding our Workday Services
operations in Poland to support Workday's growing customer base and its
investment in that market. We have been operating in Poland since 2008 and see
it as a key part of our European growth story.
In newer markets, our businesses in Australia and New Zealand continue to grow
rapidly from a small base and are exceeding our initial expectations. We are
also exploring opportunities in Latin America.
We continue to add complementary services that enhance our customers'
experience with Workday. In March 2026, we created a strategic partnership
with Retain, which offers a best-in-class resource and skills management
platform. Combined with Workday's strength in human capital management, this
will enable organisations to improve their employee utilisation and assign the
right people to the right work, at the right time.
Our customers
The tables below show that our business is well diversified, by customer type
and geographically:
Revenue by sector 2026 2025
Commercial customers 47% 52%
Public sector customers 35% 34%
Healthcare customers 18% 14%
Revenue by region 2026 2025
UK & Ireland 59% 59%
North America 32% 31%
Central Europe 8% 9%
Rest of the World 1% 1%
Artificial intelligence
Revenue from AI and data-related projects grew by 11% to £45.8 million (2025:
£41.1 million), representing 19% of Digital Services' revenue.
During FY26 we increasingly moved from proof-of-concept projects to deploying
AI in real-world applications for customers. For example, we built an
assistant for the Department for Transport's street works team, which can
answer questions from the internal team and the public on a wide range of
legislation and guidance.
Our Microsoft AI Centre of Excellence continues to grow and helped us to
secure several wins, including building a regulatory intelligence agent for a
financial services customer. We are also one of the first organisations to
launch an AI agent on the Microsoft marketplace. Day One is an onboarding
agent for new employees and large organisations which was downloaded more than
300 times within a few days of launch, without any promotion.
We have also created a Workday AI Centre of Excellence, to formalise our
approach to capitalising on the agentic AI opportunity within Workday
Services. Our goal is to work with customers to help them get the most from AI
and the Workday platform. We also have several AI agents available for
Workday, such as the Help Agent, which simplifies navigation of Workday's
knowledge base with conversational search.
We continue to scale up our use of AI internally, to help our people improve
their productivity. Everyone in Kainos now has a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence
that gives them access to AI tools that are appropriate to their role, such as
coding for developers. We have supported this rollout with training.
Ensuring responsible use of AI
Deploying AI solutions safely and responsibly is vital, both for our customers
and for us. We recognise this in our 'unsafe use of AI' principal risk. We are
currently doubling the size of our Responsible AI team in Kainos, to enhance
our assessment of AI-related risks and support our business development, with
the team enabling us to work with customers so they can move forward safely
with AI adoption.
Our AI Governance Committee also plays a key role, regularly considering
projects where we have identified higher AI-related risks for us and our
customers. In addition to ensuring we are effectively mitigating these risks,
the Committee assesses whether projects align to our culture and values, and
will turn them down if necessary.
Innovation, research and development
We continue to focus our innovation function on the areas where we see the
greatest potential for customer impact, aligning it more closely with our
businesses.
We identify emerging technologies with long-term strategic potential, focusing
on areas such as Agentic AI, quantum technologies, enterprise digital twins
and near-Earth observation. These insights guide where we invest and
experiment.
We then translate these insights, alongside specific customer challenges, into
practical solutions in partnership with our businesses. These are tested with
customers to determine whether there is a scalable opportunity, with
successful solutions being rolled out more widely. The Workday AI Centre of
Excellence is one such example, originating from patterns identified in
customer demand.
Financial Review
Revenue
FY26 was a positive year for the Group, with growth across all three
divisions.
Revenue for the year increased by 17% (19% ccy, 16% organic) to £431.1
million (2025: £367.2 million). Within this:
= Workday Products' revenue grew by 15% (19% ccy) to £81.7 million (2025:
£71.3 million). As described in the Workday Products' operational review,
services related to our EDM product are now delivered by our Workday Services
division. For comparison purposes, if the services element of EDM had been
delivered by Workday Services last year, the like-for-like growth rate for
Workday Products would have been 18%.
= Digital Services increased revenue by 23% (23% ccy, 20% organic) to £241.7
million (2025: £197.2 million), with excellent growth in healthcare, a strong
performance in the public sector and an initial six months of revenue from
Davis Pier, which added £4.6 million to the total.
= Workday Services revenue was 9% higher at £107.6 million (12% ccy) (2025:
£98.7 million), driven by North America. Our newer geographies in Australia
and New Zealand also grew rapidly, while revenue in EMEA was 1% lower.
Excluding EDM-related services, revenue growth in Workday Services was 6%.
The Group Operational Review provides more information on our revenue
performance.
Gross margin
Our overall gross margin decreased to 46.1% (2025: 47.9%). This was a
combination of:
= A stable underlying margin in Workday Products. The current year margin of
77.8% is in line with the FY25 margin excluding EDM services (77.5%).
= Digital Services achieving a gross margin of 35.6% (2025: 36.4%), reflecting
an increased proportion of engagements where we partnered with other
organisations to deliver for customers, which is typically at a lower margin,
greater use of contractors to provide short-term capacity and increased
employers' national insurance contributions.
= Workday Services' gross margin decreasing by 6 percentage points to 45.8%
(2025: 51.7%), as a result of higher staff costs, following wage growth in
recent years which has now moderated, and the inclusion of EDM-related
services, which are at a lower margin. Excluding EDM-related services, the
current year margin would have been 47.7%.
Operating expenses
Operating expenses rose from £134.1 million in FY25 to £144.3 million in
FY26. Operating expenses in FY25 included restructuring costs of £8.4
million. Excluding restructuring costs from the FY25 total, operating expenses
increased by 15% in FY26.
Under the terms of our strategic partnership with Workday announced in July
2024, we pay annual fees of approximately £7.8 million. FY26 included the
first full year of these costs, compared with the £5.2 million recorded in
FY25, which covered a period of around eight months.
Our investment in product development increased to £18.7 million (2025:
£16.8 million), all of which was expensed during the year. We recognised
£6.0 million of Research & Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC) income
during the year (2025: £5.1 million).
Alternative performance measures
We use alternative performance measures to monitor day-to-day performance and
to assist management's financial, strategic and operating decisions.
We believe these adjusted measures provide a clearer view of trading
performance, enable meaningful period-to-period comparisons and offer useful
insight for users of our financial statements. The items we adjust are
consistent with those used by comparable companies.
Specifically we exclude the following:
Costs directly attributable to acquisitions. This includes amortisation of
acquired intangible assets, deferred consideration including compensation for
post-combination services and acquisition-related expenses such as legal and
professional costs incurred mainly in the period of acquisition. These costs
are unique to each acquisition and can vary significantly between periods
depending on the timing and size of acquisitions, the nature of intangible
assets acquired and the structure of consideration. We therefore consider that
these costs do not reflect underlying operations.
Share-based payment costs. Share-based payment is an important aspect of
employee compensation. However, we believe it is useful to exclude this
expense to better understand our core business performance and facilitate
comparison of our results to those of peer companies. Our arrangements consist
of both equity-settled and cash-settled schemes and the expense incurred will
be influenced by factors including the market value of our shares, forfeiture
rates and volatility, which are generally beyond our control and may not
correlate to the operation of the business.
Significant and non-recurring items. In the prior period we excluded
restructuring costs incurred. We consider adjusting these costs provides more
meaningful period-to-period comparisons.
We adjust for the above items consistently across all our adjusted measures,
namely 'adjusted profit before tax', 'adjusted EBITDA', 'cash conversion' and
'adjusted diluted and basic earnings per share'.
The adjusted profit measures we use are not defined in UK-adopted
International Accounting Standards and our definitions may not be comparable
with similarly-titled performance measures and disclosures by other entities.
As such, these measures should not be considered in isolation but as
supplementary information to the financial statements.
The adjusted profit measures reconcile to the reported numbers as follows:
Adjusted profit measures
2026 2025
(£000s) (£000s)
Profit before tax 58,111 48,640
Share-based payment expense and related costs 5,373 5,930
Amortisation of acquired intangible assets 1,302 836
Restructuring costs - 8,411
Compensation for post-combination services 2,132 877
Acquisition-related expenses 145 948
Adjusted profit before tax 67,063 65,642
2026 2025
(£000s) (£000s)
Profit after tax 42,500 35,560
After tax impact of:
Share-based payment expense and related costs 3,930 4,335
Amortisation of acquired intangible assets 1,116 645
Restructuring costs - 6,194
Compensation for post-combination services 2,132 877
Acquisition-related expenses 145 693
Adjusted profit after tax 49,823 48,304
Adjusted EBITDA
2026 2025
(£000s) (£000s)
Adjusted profit before tax 67,063 65,642
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment 3,278 3,381
Depreciation of right-of-use assets 1,287 1,277
Finance expense 383 333
Finance income (3,722) (6,440)
Adjusted EBITDA 68,289 64,193
Adjusted pre-tax profit increased by 2% to £67.1 million (2025: £65.6
million). Profit before tax increased by 19% to £58.1 million (2025: £48.6
million).
Corporation tax charge
The effective tax rate for the year was 27% (2025: 27%),which is higher than
the UK corporation tax rate, mainly due to the impact of higher tax rates in
the United States and non- deductible acquisition expenses in Canada.
We envisage our future effective tax rates to be broadly in line with this
rate.
Earnings per share
Adjusted diluted earnings per share increased by 7% to 41.1p (2025: 38.3p)
while diluted earnings per share increased by 24% to 35.1p (2025: 28.2p). The
weighted average number of shares in issue decreased by 3% in FY26, due to the
share buyback programmes, increasing our earnings per share measures by 3%.
Further information is provided in note 7.
Financial position
We continue to have a strong financial position, with a substantial cash
balance (see below), no debt and net assets of £100.5 million (31 March 2025:
£138.0 million).
The acquisition of Davis Pier resulted in goodwill increasing to £44.3
million (31 March 2025: £37.3 million) and intangible assets rising from
£4.2 million at 31 March 2025 to £8.9 million at the year end.
The combined net trade receivables and accrued income balance increased by 54%
to £83.4 million (31 March 2025: £54.2 million), reflecting substantial
revenue growth in the final quarter of the year. Trade payables and accruals
rose to £76.5 million (31 March 2025: £54.3 million), due mainly to
increased bonus (driven by the strong financial performance) and contractor
accruals.
Cash and cash conversion
The Group is highly cash generative, with our Workday Products business in
particular having an attractive cash profile, as we receive payment from
customers annually in advance. Cash conversion, which is cash generated by
operating activities as a percentage of adjusted EBITDA, was 99% (2025: 112%).
At the year end, we held cash and treasury deposits of £89.1 million (31
March 2025: £133.7 million), with the movement in the year including:
= £55.7 million returned to shareholders through two share buyback programmes
(see Capital allocation policy below);
= £5.9 million of cash outflows relating to the construction of our new Belfast
office, which is due to open in 2027; and
= £7.9 million in relation to the acquisition of Davis Pier.
Dividend
Our progressive dividend policy provides shareholder returns, while ensuring
we have sufficient funds to invest in long-term growth. The Directors have
recommended a final dividend of 19.8p which, if approved by shareholders, will
be paid on 23 October 2026 to shareholders on the register on 2 October 2026,
with an ex-dividend date of 1 October 2026. This will make the total dividend
for the year 29.6p (2025: 28.4p) which will represent a distribution of 70% of
adjusted profit after tax (2025: 73%).
Capital allocation policy
Kainos has a strong unlevered balance sheet and continues to generate
significant operating cash flow. The diagram below shows the Board's
priorities for deploying our cash.
Where we have more cash than we need to fund growth, the Board will consider
one-off returns of capital to shareholders.
On 9 May 2025, we completed the share buyback programme announced on 11
November 2024. As part of this programme, a total of 3,993,382 shares
(including 1,054,544 purchased during the current year) were bought back for
consideration of £30.0 million.
In May 2025, we launched another share buyback programme, which completed on
18 November 2025. This resulted in 3,706,558 shares being bought back for
consideration of £30.0 million.
In November 2025, we renewed our share buyback programme, with the intention
to return up to a further £30.0 million, excluding expenses. At the year end,
we had acquired 2,292,044 shares under this programme, at a cost of £18.5
million, including transaction costs of £0.1 million. Since year end, we
purchased a further 1,437,024 shares for £11.6 million. This programme
completed on 15 May 2026, with a total of 3,729,068 shares purchased for
consideration of £30.2 million, including transaction costs of £0.2 million.
At the year end, we had cancelled 6,894,781 shares acquired during the year
and held 361,544 shares we had purchased but not cancelled.
The total amount returned to shareholders to date through the three programmes
is £90.0 million.
The Board has no current plans to launch a further share buyback programme but
will keep future capital returns, including share buybacks, under review
alongside other uses of capital, in light of market conditions and the Group's
strategic priorities, to maximise shareholder value.
Consolidated income statement for the year ended 31 March 2026
Continuing operations Note 2026 2025
(£000s) (£000s)
Revenue 2 431,098 367,246
Cost of sales 2 (232,190) (191,337)
Gross profit 2 198,908 175,909
Operating expenses
Restructuring costs - (8,411)
Other operating expenses (144,291) (125,643)
Total operating expenses (144,291) (134,054)
Impairment gain (including amounts recovered) on trade receivables and accrued 155 678
income
Operating profit 3 54,772 42,533
Finance income 3,722 6,440
Finance expense (383) (333)
Profit before tax 58,111 48,640
Income tax expense 5 (15,611) (13,080)
Profit for the year 42,500 35,560
Earnings per share
Basic 7 35.5p 28.4p
Diluted 7 35.1p 28.2p
Consolidated statement of comprehensive income for the year ended 31 March
2026
2026 2025
(£000s) (£000s)
Profit for the year 42,500 35,560
Items that may be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss:
Foreign operations - foreign currency translation differences 869 (1,595)
Total comprehensive income for the year 43,369 33,965
Consolidated statement of financial position as at 31 March 2026
Note 2026 2025
(£000s) (£000s)
Non-current assets
Goodwill 44,255 37,313
Other intangible assets 8,869 4,239
Investment property 3,904 -
Property, plant and equipment 13,139 12,145
Right-of-use assets 5,182 4,718
Investments in equity instruments 1,299 1,299
Deferred tax asset 4,890 4,911
81,538 64,625
Current assets
Trade and other receivables 8 55,732 38,520
Prepayments 8 7,660 7,553
Accrued income 8 39,530 22,673
Cash and cash equivalents 82,806 128,288
Treasury deposits 6,247 5,399
191,975 202,433
Total assets 273,513 267,058
Current liabilities
Trade payables and accruals 9 (76,495) (54,269)
Deferred income 9 (60,793) (46,358)
Share buyback liability (761) -
Current tax liabilities 9 (8,706) (2,526)
Other tax and social security 9 (15,456) (11,452)
Lease liabilities (1,239) (1,246)
Provisions - (5,388)
(163,450) (121,239)
Non-current liabilities
Provisions (1,582) (1,546)
Deferred tax liability (3,125) (1,976)
Lease liabilities (4,897) (4,312)
(9,604) (7,834)
Total liabilities (173,054) (129,073)
Net assets 100,459 137,985
Equity
Share capital 589 618
Share premium account 10,647 9,481
3,5623
Other reserves 7,372 3,562
Share-based payment reserve 41,823 36,907
Shares held to be cancelled (2,612) (1,431)
Translation reserve (761) (1,630)
Retained earnings 43,401 90,478
Total equity 100,459 137,985
These financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors and
authorised for issue on 15 May 2026. They were signed on its behalf by:
Richard McCann
Director
15 May 2026
Consolidated statement of changes in equity for the year ended 31 March 2026
Share Shares held Share Other Share-based Translation reserve Retained Total
capital to be premium reserves payment earnings equity
cancelled(( 5 (#_ftn5) )) reserve
(£000s) (£000s) (£000s) (£000s) (£000s)
(£000s) (£000s) (£000s)
Balance at 31 March 2024 629 - 9,419 3,548 31,228 (35) 112,024 156,813
Profit for the year - - - - - - 35,560 35,560
Other comprehensive income - - - - - (1,595) - (1,595)
Total comprehensive income for the year - - - - - (1,595) 35,560 33,965
Equity-settled share-based payment - - - - 5,679 - - 5,679
Current tax for equity-settled share-based payments - - - - - - 21 21
Deferred tax for equity-settled share-based payments - - - - - - (25) (25)
Issue of share capital - share options exercised 3 - 62 - - - - 65
Share buyback programme - (22,785) - - - - - (22,785)
Shares cancelled (14) 21,354 - 14 - - (21,354) -
Dividends - - - - - - (35,748) (35,748)
Balance at 31 March 2025 618 (1,431) 9,481 3,562 36,907 (1,630) 90,478 137,985
Profit for the year - - - - - - 42,500 42,500
Other comprehensive income - - - - - 869 - 869
Total comprehensive income for the year - - - - - 869 42,500 43,369
Equity-settled share-based payment - - - - 4,916 - - 4,916
Current tax for equity-settled share-based payments - - - - - - 84 84
Issue of share capital - share options exercised 3 - 1,166 - - - - 1,169
Issue of shares as purchase consideration 2 - - 3,776 - - - 3,778
Share buyback programme - (56,210) - - - - - (56,210)
Shares cancelled (34) 55,029 - 34 - - (55,029) -
Dividends - - - - - - (34,632) (34,632)
Balance at 31 March 2026 589 (2,612) 10,647 7,372 41,823(( 6 (#_ftn6) )) (761) 43,401 100,459
Consolidated statement of cash flows for the year ended 31 March 2026
2025
2026 (Restated)(( 7 (#_ftn7) ))
Note (£'000s) (£000s)
Cash flows from operating activities
Profit for the year 42,500 35,560
Adjustments for:
Finance income (3,722) (6,440)
Finance expense 383 333
Tax expense 5 15,611 13,080
Research & Development Expenditure Credit (6,032) (5,073)
Share-based payment expense 5,373 5,930
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment 3,278 3,381
Depreciation of right-of-use assets 1,287 1,277
Amortisation of intangible assets 1,302 836
Gain on disposal of property, plant and equipment (121) -
Post-acquisition remuneration settled by shares 445 -
(Decrease)/increase in provisions (5,379) 5,392
ions
Operating cash flows before movements in working capital 54,925 54,276
(Increase)/decrease in trade and other receivables (26,316) 11,795
Increase in trade and other payables 38,818 5,703
Cash generated from operating activities 67,427 71,774
Income taxes paid (9,684) (12,967)
Net cash from operating activities 57,743 58,807
Cash flows from investing activities
Interest received 3,455 6,027
Purchases of property, plant and equipment (8,041) (3,369)
Proceeds from sale of property, plant and equipment 125 -
Proceeds from sale of investment property - 6,200
Amounts placed on treasury deposit (848) (996)
Acquisition of subsidiaries net of cash acquired (7,859) -
Net cash (used)/from in investing activities (13,168) 7,862
Cash flows from financing activities
Dividends paid 6 (34,632) (35,748)
Share buyback programme (55,682) (22,552)
Interest paid (383) (333)
Repayment of lease liabilities (1,183) (1,121)
Proceeds on issue of shares 1,169 65
Net cash used in financing activities (90,711) (59,689)
Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents (46,136) 6,980
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year 128,288 121,558
Effect of exchange rate fluctuations on cash held 654 (250)
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year 82,806 128,288
Notes to the consolidated financial information
1. General information and basis of preparation
Kainos Group plc ('the Company') is a public company limited by shares
incorporated in the United Kingdom under the Companies Act 2006 and is
registered in England and Wales (company registration number 09579188), having
its registered office at 21 Farringdon Road, 2nd Floor, London EC1M 3HA. The
Company is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
The Group financial statements consolidate those of the Company and its
subsidiaries (together referred to as the 'Group').
The Group financial statements have been prepared and approved by the
Directors in accordance with UK-adopted International Accounting Standards
('UK-Adopted IFRS'). The financial statements are presented in Pounds
Sterling, generally rounded to the nearest thousand.
The financial information set out in this document does not constitute the
statutory accounts of the Group for the years ended 31 March 2026 or 31 March
2025 but is derived from those accounts. Statutory accounts for the year ended
31 March 2025 have been delivered to the registrar of companies, and those for
2026 will be delivered in due course. The auditor has reported on those
accounts; their reports were (i) unqualified, (ii) did not include a reference
to any matters to which the auditor drew attention by way of emphasis without
qualifying their report and (iii) did not contain a statement under section
498 (2) or (3) of the Companies Act 2006.
This financial information was authorised for issue by the Directors on 15 May
2026.
2. Segment reporting
The following is an analysis of the Group's revenue and results by reportable
segment:
2026 Workday Products
12 months to 31 March Digital Workday Services (£000s) Consolidated
Services (£000s)
(£000s) (£000s)
Revenue 241,737 107,612 81,749 431,098
Cost of sales (155,732) (58,313) (18,145) (232,190)
Gross profit 86,005 49,299 63,604 198,908
Direct expenses(( 8 (#_ftn8) )) (30,403) (36,490) (39,968) (106,861)
Contribution 55,602 12,809 23,636 92,047
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment (3,278)
Central overheads((8)) (25,045)
Net finance income 3,339
Adjusted pre-tax profit 67,063
Share-based payments expense and related costs (5,373)
Amortisation of acquired intangible assets (1,302)
Compensation for post-combination remuneration (2,132)
Acquisition-related expenses (145)
Profit before tax 58,111
to 31 March
2025 Workday Products
12 months to 31 March Digital Workday Services (£000s) Consolidated
Services (£000s)
(£000s) (£000s)
Revenue 197,173 98,725 71,348 367,246
Cost of sales (125,438) (47,647) (18,252) (191,337)
Gross profit 71,735 51,078 53,096 175,909
Direct expenses((8)) (21,546) (33,491) (33,615) (88,652)
Contribution 50,189 17,587 19,481 87,257
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment (3,381)
Central overheads((8)) (24,341)
Net finance income 6,107
Adjusted pre-tax profit 65,642
Share-based payments expense and related costs (5,930)
Amortisation of acquired intangible assets (836)
Compensation for post-combination remuneration (877)
Acquisition-related expenses (948)
Restructuring costs (8,411)
Profit before tax 48,640
The Group's revenue from external customers by primary geographic region is
detailed below:
2026 2025
(£000s) (£000s)
United Kingdom 243,551 202,014
Republic of Ireland 10,387 15,360
Total United Kingdom & Ireland 253,938 217,374
( )
( )United States of America 112,568 97,102
Canada 25,168 17,290
Total Americas 137,736 114,392
Central Europe 34,055 33,710
Rest of world 5,369 1,770
431,098 367,246
Disaggregation of revenue by type
Digital Workday Workday
Services Services Products Total
2026 2026 2026 2026
(£000s) (£000s) (£000s) (£000s)
Type of revenue
Services 234,390 103,575 2,222 340,187
Subscriptions - - 79,527 79,527
Third party and other 7,347 4,037 - 11,384
241,737 107,612 81,749 431,098
Digital Workday Workday Total
Services Services Products 2025
2025 2025 2025
(£000s) (£000s) (£000s) (£000s)
Type of revenue
Services 188,451 95,047 4,061 287,559
Subscriptions - - 67,287 67,287
Third party and other 8,722 3,678 - 12,400
197,173 98,725 71,348 367,246
Disaggregation of revenue by sector
Group 2026 2025
(£000s) (£000s)
Public 150,378 125,537
Commercial 201,554 190,872
Healthcare 79,166 50,837
Total 431,098 367,246
Revenue for Digital Services is now shown separately for the North America
region, reflecting its increasing strategic and operational importance:
2026 2025
(unaudited)
(£000s) (£000s)
Digital Services
Public 136,046 122,145
Commercial 10,656 17,965
Healthcare 74,881 48,210
North America 20,154 8,853
241,737 197,173
3. Profit for the year
Profit for the year has been arrived at after charging/(crediting):
2026 2025
(£000s) (£000s)
Total staff costs 273,861 259,119
Government grants (131) (793)
Research and development expensed as incurred 18,722 16,818
Research and Development Expenditure Credit (6,032) (5,073)
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment 3,278 3,381
Depreciation of right-of-use assets 1,287 1,277
Gain on disposal of property, plant and equipment 121 -
Net foreign exchange loss 953 461
Amortisation of acquired intangibles 1,302 836
4. Staff numbers
The average number of employees during the year was:
2026 2025
Number Number
Technical 2,429 2,410
Administration 278 310
Sales 240 233
2,947 2,953
5. Tax expense
The following tax was recognised in recognised in the income statement:
2026 2025
(£000s) (£000s)
Current tax expense:
Current year (UK) 10,829 9,909
Current year (overseas) 5,055 4,070
Adjustments in respect of prior years 386 (635)
16,270 13,344
Deferred tax
Origination and reversal of temporary differences (578) (1,277)
Adjustments in respect of prior years (81) 1,013
(659) (264)
Total tax expense 15,611 13,080
In addition to the amount charged to the statement of comprehensive income,
the following amounts relating to tax have been recognised directly in equity
in relation to share-based payments:
2026 2025
(£000s) (£000s)
Current tax
Permanent element of share-based payment deduction 84 21
Deferred tax
Deferred tax on share-based payments - (25)
Total tax recognised directly in equity 84 (4)
The Group's tax charge can be reconciled to the profit in the income statement
and effective tax rate as follows:
2026 2025
(£000s) (£000s)
Profit before tax on continuing operations 58,111 48,640
Tax at the UK corporation tax rate of 25% (2025: 25%) 14,528 12,160
Expenses not deductible for tax purposes 657 662
Tax exempt income - (357)
Effect of tax rates in foreign jurisdictions 121 237
Adjustments to tax charge in respect of prior years 305 378
Tax expense for the year 15,611 13,080
Effective tax rate 27% 27%
6. Dividend
2026 2025
(£000s) (£000s)
Amounts recognised as distributions to equity holders in the period:
Interim dividend for 2026 of 9.8p per share 11,697 -
Final dividend for 2025 of 19.1p per share 22,935 -
Interim dividend for 2025 of 9.3p per share - 11,721
Final dividend for 2024 of 19.1p per share - 24,027
34,632 35,748
7. Earnings per share
Basic
The calculation of basic earnings per share (EPS) has been based on the
following profit attributable to ordinary shareholders and weighted average
number of ordinary shares outstanding.
2026 2025
(£000s) (£000s)
Profit attributable to ordinary shareholders 42,500 35,560
Thousands Thousands
Issued ordinary shares at 1 April 123,620 125,788
Effect of shares held in trust (983) (882)
Effect of share options vested and exercised 428 418
Effect of shares issued related to a business combination 210 58
Effect of shares issued related to free share awards 121 122
Effect of share buyback programme (3,635) (468)
Weighted average number of ordinary shares at 31 March 119,761 125,036
Basic earnings per share 35.5p 28.4p
Diluted
The calculation of diluted EPS has been based on the following profit
attributable to ordinary shareholders and weighted-average number of ordinary
shares outstanding after adjustment for the effects of all dilutive potential
ordinary shares.
2026 2025
(£000s) (£000s)
Profit attributable to ordinary shareholders 42,500 35,560
Thousands Thousands
Weighted average number of ordinary shares (basic) 119,761 125,036
Effect of share options in issue 248 228
Effect of shares held in trust 983 882
Effect of potential shares to be issued related to a business combination 99 -
Weighted average number of ordinary shares (diluted) at 31 March 121,091 126,146
Diluted earnings per share 35.1p 28.2p
Adjusted (unaudited)
Adjusted basic and adjusted diluted earnings per share is calculated using the
adjusted profit for the year measure. The calculation of adjusted profit for
the year is detailed in the Financial Review section of this Report.
2026 2025
(£000s) (£000s)
Adjusted profit for the year 49,823 48,304
Thousands Thousands
Weighted average number of ordinary shares for the purposes of basic earnings 119,761 125,036
per share
Weighted average number of ordinary shares for the purposes of diluted 121,091 126,146
earnings per share
Adjusted basic earnings per share 41.6p 38.6p
Adjusted diluted earnings per share 41.1p 38.3p
8. Trade and other receivables
2026 2025
(£000s) (£000s)
Trade receivables 43,820 31,481
Other receivables 11,912 7,039
55,732 38,520
Prepayments 7,660 7,553
Accrued income 39,530 22,673
102,922 68,746
9. Trade and other payables
2026 2025
(£000s) (£000s)
Trade payables and accruals 76,495 54,269
Deferred income 60,793 46,358
Current tax liabilities 8,706 2,526
Other tax and social security 15,456 11,452
161,450 114,605
10. Subsequent events
The Company bought back, for cancellation, 1,437,024 ordinary shares at a cost
of £11.6 million between 1 April 2026 and 15 May 2026.
There have been no other material events subsequent to year end that would
require adjustment or disclosure in these consolidated financial statements.
( 1 ) The Financial Review section reconciles adjusted and statutory profit
measures. See also the Definition of terms section for more information on
adjusted measures and other key terms and metrics used in this report.
( 2 ) Includes £6.2 million (31 March 2025: £5.4 million) of treasury
deposits which do not meet the definition of cash and cash equivalents.
( 3 ) Digital Services' sectoral revenues for FY25 have been re-presented to
exclude North America, which we now report separately.
( 4 ) According to partner metrics sourced from Workday, October 2025.
(5) Shares purchased as part of the share buyback programme due to be
cancelled.
( 6 ) £32.3 million relates to exercised or lapsed options or fully vested
free share awards and is considered distributable.
( 7 ) The consolidated statement of cash flows for FY25 did not correctly
include research & development expenditure credit of £5.1 million as an
adjustment (add back) to profit to arrive at operating cash flows before
movements in working capital. Previously this amount was presented within
movements in working capital. The impact is to increase operating cash flows
before movements in working capital by £5.1 million, increase movement in
trade and other receivables by £0.9 million and increase movement in trade
and other payables by £4.2 million. These have been corrected and the
consolidated statement of cash flows has been restated.
( 8 ) Direct expenses plus central overheads (including depreciation) plus
balances below adjusted profit equals the sum of operating expenses plus
impairment gain/(loss) and reversals on trade receivables and accrued income.
Direct expenses are expenses that are directly attributable to each division.
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