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The chief executive of Kainos, one of Northern Ireland's largest businesses, is to stand down after 22 years in the job.

Brendan Mooney joined the Belfast-based IT firm in 1989 as a trainee engineer.

He was appointed to the top job in 2001 and floated the business on the London stock market in 2015.

At that time, the firm was valued at £161m compared to £1.77bn today. Mr Mooney said his decision to step down was not an easy one.

However he added that it was "made easier knowing the talent and motivation of the team leading the business today".

"It has been a wonderful experience to be part of the Kainos journey, to have worked alongside so many exceptional friends and colleagues, to have witnessed the positive difference our work has made for our customers and in society and to have watched Kainos grow from a local start-up to a dynamic global firm," he added.

Mr Mooney told ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio Ulster's Evening Extra programme the announcement to step down comes 34 years to the day he started at the company.

After being rejected for a loan to join his friends on holiday in 1989, Mr Mooney was given 10p by his local bank manager in order to use a phone box to find a job.

"I literally left the bank branch, put the 10 pence in the phone box and phoned Kainos, and I started the next day," he said.

Mr Mooney will step down in September but the handover to the new chief executive is scheduled to last until June 2024.

Mr Mooney also remains one of the business's largest shareholders.

He is being succeeded by Russell Sloan, currently the Digital Services Director of Kainos.

Mr Sloan said he is excited to be taking over the role and thanked the board "for the confidence placed in me to lead this exceptional business".