Icon, the Dublin-based clinical trials group, said it was happy with its latest financial results, and announced new offices and a recruitment drive.

The company said its net revenue for the three months to the end of August climbed 32 per cent to $17 million (€16.3 million), but profits fell 11 per cent to $1.6 million. The company said income from operations was $1.4 million, a decrease of 20 per cent on the same period in 1998, but an increase of 110 per cent on the $0.7 per cent reported for the previous quarter, to the end of May 1999.

Icon's chairman, Dr Ronan Lambe, said that new offices in Irvine, California; Tel Aviv, Israel; and Singapore "are operational." The offices would be headed by Dr Louise Murphy, Mr Ran Frenkel and Dr Amy Cheang respectively, each of whom have many years experience in drug development, he added.

"The increasing number of New Chemical Entities (NCEs) being developed in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, in our view, continues to drive growth in outsourcing, with high quality global CROs playing a key role. With over 700 employees in 14 offices covering four continents, Icon is capable of servicing this strong demand," he added.