Klas, the Dublin-based tech supplier to US Army, sees a fall in revenue

Klas Group, the Irish company that supplies communications technology to the US military, has seen a drop in its revenue and profits.

the Dublin-based company builds robust hardware for performing secure communications in the field. The US Department of Defense is one of its flagship customers.

Accounts for Klas Ltd for the year ending March 2022, which were recently filed with the Companies Registration Office, show that turnover fell from €38.1 million to €33.8 million, while profits fell by €2.4 million to €482,216 .

The company has seen a steady rise in revenue in recent years as it launched new products and partnerships with major tech companies including Dell.

In recent years, Klas has entered the autonomous driving space

In its directors’ note, the company said it relies on a small number of customers for its business.

“The company has a relatively small number of key customers and suppliers, and the loss of one or two key customers or suppliers would have a disproportionate effect on sales and profitability,” he said.

Klas Group did not respond to a request for comment.

The filing states that the company’s directors are “satisfied with the levels of revenue and profits” and that the company “remains in a strong position to pursue continued growth”.

The bulk of Klas’s business is in the US market, which accounts for nearly 90% of its turnover.

Last year, it expanded its work with the military by joining two US military programs with tech giant Oracle, to build transportable tactical command communications systems.

Klas was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Dublin with 89 employees, according to the accounts.

The company also has offices in Washington DC, Virginia and Florida, from where it serves its main business in the US market.

Last September, Klas appointed William Ostrowski as its new chief executive officer. He is based in the USA.

Ostrowski is a retired US Army Special Forces officer and previously led business development at L3Harris, another major US military contractor.

Along with the US Department of Defense, Klas provides its technology to other government and public sector customers. It has a presence in the public transport sector and supplies its equipment to rail and bus operators in North America and Europe, including French operator SNFC and Vancouver’s public transport network.

In recent years, Klas has entered the burgeoning autonomous driving space with technology for driverless systems and advanced driver assistance systems.

In 2021, the company partnered with computer maker Dell, which uses some of its technology in testing autonomous vehicles. Its computing and storage hardware sits in test cars and is integrated into the Dell autonomous drive ecosystem to test autonomous driving.

The equipment collects and stores hundreds of terabytes of data to improve a car’s performance and to improve its ability to function autonomously.

Last year, the company joined the Autoware Foundation, an industry group for cooperation on communications and security in automotive technology.

Electronics giants Foxconn, Arm and AMD are also members of the organization.

Van Klas’ other partners and collaborators include Intel, Cisco and Nutanix.