Cognos sales hit £145m

Third quarter profits soared 87 per cent to £16m at the business intelligence firm

Sales rose to £145m in the third quarter

Sales at business intelligence company Cognos rose 16 per cent to $288m (£145m) in the three months to the end of November.

Third quarter profits rocketed 87 per cent to $31m (£16m), up from $16m (£8m) in the same period last year. The company won 18 contracts with individual values of more than $1m (£506,000), up from 11 deals in 2006.

Cognos is being bought by IBM, with the merger expected to close during the first quarter of 2008.