Dublin-headquartered drugs group Icon, which employs more than 1,000 people in Ireland, has reported a 3.2 per cent rise in first quarter revenues to $400.5 million.

This compares to revenues of $388.2 million for the same three-month period a year earlier and represents a 4 per cent constant currancy growth.

The Nasdaq-listed firm said net income increased 12.7 per cent to $63 million or $1.12 per share, versus $55.9 million or $0.90 per share a year earlier.

The company recorded gross business wins of €514 million. Income from operations rose 14 per cent to $76 million, equivalent to 19 per cent of overall revenue.

Cash generated from operating activities for in its first quarter was $59.4 million with capital expenditure coming in at $7.7 million. As a result, Icon had net debt of $100 million, compared to net debt of $158 million at the end of December, and net cash of $172 million at the end of March.

"Quarter one represents a solid start to 2016. We have grown our backlog of business to close to $4 billion, 9 per cent higher than the same quarter last year. Revenue grew by 4.9 per cent year on year on a constant currency basis and further margin expansion enabled us to deliver earnings per share of $1.12, a 24 per cent increase over last year," said chief executive Ciaran Murray.

Icon is a global provider of drug development solutions and services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries. Established in 1990 by Dr John Climax and Dr Ronan Lambe, the company employs 12,200 staff across 89 offices in 37 countries.