Dublin-headquartered Icon rose in the third quarter of the year, the company said, delivering another strong performance for the medical outsourcing provider.

Net revenue grew 1.8 per cent in the third quarter of the year to $394.7 million (€357.5 million), while income from operations was up 20.1 per cent to $71.4 million or 18.1 per cent of revenue, compared with $59.4 million or 15.3 per cent in the same quarter a year earlier.

The firm , which provides drug development solutions and services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries, said its net income rose 22 per cent to $61.5 million, or $1.02 per share on a diluted basis. That compares with $50.3 million or $0.79 per share in the same period last year.

Chief executive Ciaran Murray said the quarter was a strong one for Icon. " We achieved net new business wins of $475 million, which represented a book to bill of 1.2 and grew our backlog by 8 per cent," he said.

During the quarter the company also announced a project with IBM’s Watson computer to cut the time and cost needed to develop drugs, and also match patients with relevant drugs trials.

In the year to date, revenue for 2015 was 5.2 per cent higher, reaching $1.17 billion from $1.113 billion in 2014. Income from operations increased to $206.2 million, rising by 37 per cent, while net income was up 38 per cent to $176 million.

Icon said it purchased $230 million in shares by the end of the third quarter as part of a $400 million buyback programme it announced in July.

Established in 1990 by Dr John Climax and Dr Ronan Lambe, Icon now employs around 11,700 people across 77 offices in 38 countries, including over 1,000 staff in Ireland.

It announced plans to create an additional 200 jobs in Dublin earlier this year as part of a plan to develop a new global innovation hub here.