IRISH SOFTWARE entrepreneur Michael Kelly generally likes to fly below the media radar.

But latest accounts for his Fineos Corporation, which sells software to the insurance and government sectors, provide a window on the performance of the company and indicate that it is weathering the recession reasonably well.

In the year to the end of June 2010, Fineos made a pre-tax profit of €4.9 million on revenues of €32.5 million.

The previous reporting period – for the six months to the end of June 2009 – saw it post a surplus of €3.1 million on turnover of €17.4 million.

Fineos also closed its last financial year with cash reserves of €13.1 million, a rise of 20 per cent on the previous year.

“These reserves are in excess of the requirements of the company for the ongoing development of operations,” the directors’ report states.

Kelly has a reputation for keeping a tight rein on his cost base and its accounts indicate that this continues to be the case.

Its headcount reduced to 292 last year from 314 in 2009 and the directors’ report states that a “limited amount of restructuring took place post [the] year end in response to market demand and overall resourcing requirements”.

Fineos was once tipped for the stock market but the bursting of the tech bubble and other market wobbles put paid to those plans.

Since then, the share base has been consolidated with Kelly buying out a number of his fellow investors to take greater control of the business.

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Fineos. In the current climate an IPO is unlikely while Kelly has always rejected suggestions that he might sell to a rival. But he’s not one to stand still, either.