Ireland-based Icon reported an operating profit and pre-tax profit $18.7m (€12.9m), a gain of 48 per cent and 38 per cent respectively on 2006.

Revenues were also up by 38 per cent, reaching $166.9m, as were costs. Operating margins however, expanded from 10.4 per cent to 11.2 per cent year over year.

The contract research organisation (CRO) was most frequently mentioned as favourite vendor in a CRO quality survey recently published by William Blair & Company.

Meanwhile, Kendle reported a whopping 76 per cent rise in its operating profit during the third quarter, to $14.2m, but a huge chunk of this was eroded by charges, leaving the firm with only $5m in pre-tax profit, a 16 per cent decline on last year.

Kendle's financial results are still being clouded by residual debt from the acquisition of the Phase II-IV clinical services unit of Charles River Laboratories over year ago.

This quarter, the $215m purchase resulted in an interest expense of $3.3m, a $2.0m charge for amortization of the acquired intangibles, and a $4.2m charge for the write-off of deferred financing costs related to the company's term debt, which was paid off during the third quarter of 2007.

Otherwise, Kendle posted a healthy 33 per cent jump in revenue to hit the $100m mark, while operating margin jumped up 3.5 percentage points to 14.2 per cent.