Kainos: Belfast IT firm to make 190 staff redundant
'Difficult decision'
In a statement on Tuesday, the firm said it had made the "difficult decision" to reduce its workforce in response to the "current market environment".This is affecting approximately 7% of its global team, it added."This decision was made with careful consideration and a focus on the long-term growth opportunities of our business."While our business fundamentals remain strong, this step allows us to manage costs responsibly while continuing to support our customers."We recognise that this means saying goodbye to talented colleagues who have made valuable contributions to Kainos. They leave with our deep gratitude, and we are committed to supporting them in their transition to new opportunities."
The company's share price has struggled over the last year falling from around 1200p in May to around 700p on Tuesday.It has been undertaking a share buyback scheme in an attempt to boost the share price.Kainos is one of Northern Ireland's most successful companies and has grown rapidly in recent years.It specialises in helping organisations digitise their operations and counts UK government departments among its major clients.Those services were in high demand during the pandemic and the company hired hundreds of staff as it grew.It is currently building a new headquarters at a site on the Dublin Road in Belfast city centre.
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Reuters
10 minutes ago
- Reuters
a2 Milk's full-year profit jumps, company to buy NZ formula plant for China growth
Aug 18 (Reuters) - New Zealand's a2 Milk ( opens new tab reported a 21% jump in its full-year profit on Monday helped by strong China demand, and announced the acquisition of a manufacturing facility to expand its share in China. The infant milk formula maker reported full-year post-tax net profit attributable of NZ$202.9 million ($120.12 million), compared with last year's NZ$167.6 million and slightly ahead of the Visible Alpha consensus of NZ$202.2 million. That was largely on the back of strong demand for its infant milk formula products in China, its top market. Total IMF sales rose 10%, driven by a robust 17% growth in its English label offerings, while China label sales grew 3.3%. "It has been an exceptional year for our infant milk formula business," said CEO David Bortolussi. In the ongoing financial year, the company expects net profit to be similar to fiscal 2025, while operating earnings margins are expected to be between 15% and 16%, higher than 14.4% reported in 2025. a2 Milk also said it will buy a nutritional manufacturing facility in New Zealand for NZ$282 million from a unit of China Mengniu Dairy ( opens new tab. The facility already has two existing China label product registrations, which will help a2 Milk bolster its penetration in its top market. The acquisition "secures opportunity for greater market access to the attractive NZ$23 billion CL (China label) IMF registered market," the company said. The Auckland-based company will also divest its 75% stake in Mataura Valley Milk for around NZ$100 million, booking a loss of NZ$130 million on the divestment. If the two transactions go through, a2 Milk plans to declare a special, fully-franked dividend of NZ$300 million. Its revenue from the China & Other Asia segment, its top money-making division, jumped around 14% to NZ$1.30 billion. That drove its group revenue 13.5% higher to NZ$1.90 billion. a2 Milk declared a final ordinary dividend of 11.5 New Zealand cents per share. Shares of the company rose as much as 6.5% to NZ$9.29, its strongest level since mid-March, as of 2251 GMT. ($1 = 1.6892 New Zealand dollars)
BBC News
40 minutes ago
- BBC News
Should Europe wean itself off US tech?
Imagine if US President Donald Trump could flip a switch and turn off Europe's may sound far-fetched, crazy even. But it's a scenario that has been seriously discussed in tech industry and policy circles in recent months, as tensions with Washington have escalated, and concerns about the EU's reliance on American technology have come to the the root of these concerns is the fact just three US giants - Google, Microsoft and Amazon - provide 70% of Europe's cloud-computing infrastructure, the scaffolding on which many online services some question whether an unpredictable US leader would weaponize the situation if relations seriously deteriorated - for example, by ordering those companies to turn off their services in Europe."Critical data would become inaccessible, websites would go dark, and essential state services like hospital IT systems would be thrown into chaos," says Robin Berjon, a digital governance specialist who advises EU believes that concerns over a so called US "kill switch" should be taken seriously. "It's hard to say how much trouble we would be in." Microsoft, Google and Amazon all say they offer "sovereign" cloud computing solutions that safeguard EU clients' data, and would prevent such a scenario ever occurring. The BBC has contacted the US Treasury department for truth, there have always been concerns about the lack of "digital sovereignty" in Europe, where US firms not only dominate the cloud-computing market, but also hardware, satellite internet and now artificial the region's main mobile operating systems - Apple and Android - and payment networks - Mastercard and Visa - are fears became urgent in May when it emerged that Karim Khan, the top prosecutor at the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court (ICC), had lost access to his Microsoft Outlook email account after being sanctioned by the White ICC has issued arrest warrants for top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over their roles in the Israel-Gaza war - something Mr Trump called "illegitimate".Khan has since temporarily stepped aside until a sexual misconduct probe against him is says that "at no point" did it cease or suspend its services to the ICC, although it was in touch with the ICC "throughout the process that resulted in the disconnection". Since then digital sovereignty has shot up the agenda in Brussels, while some public bodies are already seeking alternatives to US is it realistic to think they could wean themselves off US technology?Digital sovereignty is loosely defined as the ability of a governing body to control the data and technology systems within its problem faced by those pursuing it is the lack of comparable does have its own providers, such as France's OVHCloud, or Germany's Germany's T-Systems or Delos, in cloud they account for a fraction of the market, and don't have the same scale or range of capabilities, says Dario Maisto, a senior analyst covering digital sovereignty at global business consultancy open-source alternatives are available for common software packages like Office and Windows, but while proponents say they are more transparent and accessible, none is as comprehensive or well known. But while moving to sovereign alternatives wouldn't "happen overnight", it's a "myth" to think it's not possible, says Mr notes that the German state of Schleswig-Holstein is currently in the process of phasing out Microsoft products like Office 365 and Windows in favour of open-source solutions such as LibreOffice and Linux. Denmark's Ministry for Digitalisation is piloting a similar scheme."We sometimes overvalue the role of proprietary software in our organisations," Mr Maisto says, pointing out that for key services like word processing and email, open-source solutions work just fine."The main reasons organisations don't use open source are a lack of awareness and misplaced fears about cyber security," he adds."Our prediction is in the next five to 10 years, there will be an accelerated shift [to these solutions] because of this wake-up call." Benjamin Revcolevschi, boss of OVHCloud, tells the BBC that firms like his are ready to answer the sovereignty needs of public and private organisations in Europe."Only European cloud providers, whose headquarters are in the EU and with European governance, are able to offer immunity to non-European laws, to protect sensitive and personal data," he Microsoft, Amazon and Google say they already offer solutions that address concerns about digital sovereignty, solutions which store data on severs in the clients' country or region, not in the tells the BBC that it also partners with trusted local EU suppliers like T-Systems, granting them control over the encryption of client data, and giving customers "a technical veto over their data". The German Army is one of its Microsoft president Brad Smith has promised the firm would take legal action in the "exceedingly unlikely" event the US government ordered it to suspend services, and that it would include a clause in European contracts to that effect."We will continue to look for new ways to ensure the European Commission and our European customers have the options and assurances they need to operate with confidence," a Microsoft spokesman told the BBC. Zach Meyers, from the Brussels-based Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE) think tank, says it might make sense for Europe to develop its own limited sovereign cloud to protect critical government he adds that it's unrealistic to try to "get Americans out of the supply chain, or to ensure that there's Europeans in the supply chain at each point".He points to Gaia X - a scheme launched in 2020 to create a European-based alternative to large, centralised cloud platforms, which has faced significant criticism and delays."A lot of these [tech] markets are winner takes all, so once you're the first mover it's really hard for anyone else to catch up."Instead, Mr Meyers thinks Europe should focus on areas of technology where it might gain an edge."It could be the industrial use of AI, because Europe already has a much bigger, stronger industrial base than the US has," he says. "Or the next generation of chipmaking equipment, because one of the few areas where Europe has foothold is in photolithography - the machines that make the really top-end chips." So where does the digital sovereignty agenda go from here?Some believe nothing will change unless Europe brings in new regulations that force regional organisations and governments to buy local technology. But according to Mr Berjon, the EU has been dragging its feet."There is definitely political interest, but it's a question of turning it into a shared strategy."Matthias Bauer, director at the European Centre for International Political Economy, thinks the goal should be building up Europe's technology sector so it can compete with the US and a report on EU competitiveness in 2024, Mario Draghi, former head of the European Central Bank, noted Europe is "severely lagging behind" in new technologies, and that "only four of the world's top 50 tech companies are European"."It's currently much harder for a tech company based in the EU to scale across the bloc than it would be for the same company in the US," Mr Bauer says."You not only face different languages, but different contract law, labour market laws, tax laws, and also different sector-specific regulation."As for the theory that President Trump might flip a "kill switch" and turn off Europe's internet, he's highly sceptical."It would be a realistic scenario if we were close to a war, but I don't see that on the horizon."Yet Mr Maisto says organisations must take the risk seriously, however remote."Two years ago, we didn't think we would be talking about these topics in these terms in 2025. Now organisations want to get ready for what might happen."
Reuters
40 minutes ago
- Reuters
Klook taps banks for US IPO, sources say
NEW YORK, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Klook, a travel booking services company, has hired investment banks to help arrange a potential initial public offering in the U.S., according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The Hong Kong-based company, backed by investors including SoftBank Group (9984.T), opens new tab and Goldman Sachs Group (GS.N), opens new tab, is working with bankers at Goldman, Morgan Stanley (MS.N), opens new tab and JPMorgan (JPM.N), opens new tab on the planned first-time share sale, said the people, asking not to be identified as the process is private. The deal could come as early as this year and raise around $500 million, they said, cautioning that the timing and deal size are subject to market conditions. U.S. IPO activity has gained momentum, bolstered by strong tech earnings and signs of progress in trade negotiations that have restored investor confidence. Recent listings, including cryptocurrency exchange operator Bullish (BLSH.N), opens new tab, and design software company Figma (FIG.N), opens new tab, underscore the uptick in market debuts, reversing a period in the year when uncertainty over President Donald Trump's tariff policies weighed on new offerings. Klook, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan declined to comment. Morgan Stanley did not respond to a request for comment. It was not immediately clear whether Klook will be selling a stake in the IPO, or whether it will be an investor sell-down or a combination of both. Bloomberg News reported earlier the company was exploring a U.S. IPO. Founded in 2014, Klook turned profitable in 2023. It provides various booking services to travelers across a range of locations globally and competes with other global travel booking sites such as and TripAdvisor, as well as China's and South Korea's Yanolja. The company said in February it had raised $100 million in a funding round led by European investment firm Vitruvian Partners, but did not disclose its valuation at the time. Other investors in Klook include HSG, formerly known as Sequoia Capital China.
