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Kainos, the Belfast-based IT firm, has bought a business in the US.

The purchase of the Blackline Group is part of a strategy to grow the firm's international practice in Workday, a suite of financial management and HR software.

Blackline, which specialises in procurement management, is based near Seattle and employs about 50 people.

It is Kainos' sixth deal of this type having previously bought small firms in the US, UK, Germany and Finland.

The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

Kainos chief executive Brendan Mooney said: "The procurement expertise of our new colleagues, paired with our deep experience with Workday, will allow us to expand the support that we can provide our existing customers, not just in North America, but across our global operations."

Kainos specialises in helping organisations to digitise their operations and counts the UK government as one of its major clients.

It is one of Northern Ireland's most successful firms with a current stock market valuation of about £2bn.