Medical outsourcing provider Icon has posted a 14.1 per cent increase in third quarter revenue.

The company said net revenue for the three months to the end of September was $388 million, up from $339.8 million during the same period last year.

Profit for the quarter was $59.4 million, up from $33.2 million during the same quarter last year.

Net revenue for the year to end-September increased 12.4 per cent to $1.1 billion, up from $991 million in 2013.

Year to date profit was $127.3 million or $2.01 per share on a diluted basis, compared with profit, excluding restructuring charge, of $76.5 million or $1.23 per share on a diluted basis last year.

"Our growth has been double digit for a long time. Our pharma customers are outsourcing a lot more," Icon chief executive Ciaran Murray said.

For the three months to the end of September, cash generated from operating activities was $111 million and capital expenditure was $9.6 million. The company also completed $33 million of share repurchases during the quarter. As a result, the company’s net cash amounted to $249 million at September-end, compared to net cash of $175 million at the end of June 30.

Mr Murray said quarter three represented further progress in the execution of the company’s strategic plan.

“We further expanded our gross and operating margins which reached 40.7 per cent and 15.3 per cent respectively and as a result earnings per share increased 76 per cent year over year to 79 cent”.

Guidance for the full year 2014 has been updated, with EPS guidance increased from a range of $2.62 - $2.68 to a range of $2.74 - $2.79.

“Given the recent strength of the dollar against the euro we are updating our revenue guidance from a range of $1.490 billion-$1.530 billion to a range of $1.495 billion - $1.515 billion,” Mr Murray added.