Disruption from the Y2K millennium bug took its toll on full-year profits at software group Misys, the company said yesterday. Misys, which takes in Kindle Banking Systems employs 230 people in Dublin.

The disruption to trading from the millennium bug was particularly severe in the banking and finance sector, where businesses held off making orders for new software until after February 29th, as IT experts warned the leap year date was as significant as the date change from 1999 to 2000.

And the situation was exacerbated by the fact that software sales in the sector had been boosted the year before by banks installing new technology to cope with the arrival of the single European currency.

The problems contributed to a drop in operating profits from the group's continuing businesses to £119 million sterling for the year to May 31st, from £132 million last time.