Corporate development director Mario Anid said that "while we are not conceiving any acquisitions this week, we still believe that ultimately we need to be bigger in the US."

"Our long-term plans are to have three legs in Logica and the three legs geographically will be the UK, Europe and the US.

These legs would be comparable in revenue and profit contribution," he said, adding that the company also wants to build its presence in Germany and Spain.

Strong profits

Mr Anid's comments come as Logica posts a 52% rise in profits to �63.4m in the six months to 30 June. This compares with �41.8m a year earlier.

Logica is also likely to go shopping for assets that could improve its position in finance and telecoms, Mr Anid said.

"There are a number of market opportunities in the finance sector that we could capture faster by acquiring specialist components. In telecommunications, we might benefit from acquiring," Mr Anid said.

The company's performance in the US was one of the few areas to give analysts cause for concern when Logica results were announced earlier on Wednesday.

Slower-than-expected deregulation in the utilities market had led to a weak performance in the US, an analyst at WestLB Panmure said.

Even this analysis could not take the gloss off Logica's results. The company marked its 30th year of operation with a 52% jump in profits, and posted a positive outlook for its 31st year.

No Y2K problem

Logica finance director Mr Andrew Given doubted millennium bug fears would stifle spending on IT, a fear which had dogged IT share prices.

"Much of what we do is on the revenue side for customers, and enhances their competitive position.They can't afford to put their competitive battle on hold for a few months," Given said.

Logica provides software solutions for businesses, including financial and billing systems.