Cognizant Q4 net up 12%; sees 19% revenue growth in 2015

IT services major Cognizant saw its net profit growing 12 per cent to USD 362.89 million for the December quarter, buoyed by increased spending by healthcare clients and strong revenue growth in North America.
The US-based firm had posted net profit of USD 324.33 million in the October-December 2013.
Revenues rose by 16 per cent to USD 2.74 billion in the
October-December quarter of 2014, as against USD 2.36 billion in the year-ago period, exceeding its guidance of USD 2.64 billion for the said quarter.
For 2015, Cognizant expects to see its revenues grow 19
per cent to at least USD 12.21 billion despite a negative currency impact of about two per cent with client spending increasing, especially in areas like digital and automation.

The company follows January-December as its fiscal year.

Cognizant said it expects revenues in January-March 2015
quarter to be at least USD 2.88 billion.
"Despite unfavourable European currency movements during fourth quarter, we finished 2014 with strong revenue performance and believe we are well positioned to continue that momentum into 2015 on strength of integrated consulting, technology, digital and business services capabilities," Cognizant CEO Francisco D'Souza said.
Cognizant saw its net profit for 2014 rising 17 per cent to USD 1.44 billion, while revenues grew 16 per cent at USD 10.26 billion.
For 2014, Cognizant had projected its revenue to be in the range of USD 10.13 billion and USD 10.16 billion.

During the quarter under review, revenues from healthcare
grew 26 per cent, while that from financial services and logistics/manufacturing/retail was up 12.4 per cent and nine per cent, respectively.
In terms of geography, North America, which accounted for
77.8 per cent of Cognizant's revenues, witnessed 17.4 per cent year-on-year growth.
Revenues from Europe (17.3 per cent of the revenues) rose
10.7 per cent, while that from Rest of the World (4.9 per cent) was up 22.3 per cent.
In December 2014 quarter, Consulting and Technology Services (formerly known as Application Development) and Outsourcing Services (formerly called Application Management) represented 54 per cent and 46 per cent of the revenue, respectively.

"Consulting and Technology Services increased 26 per cent
y-o-y, while outsourcing services grew seven per cent from Q4 a year ago," Cognizant Chief Financial Officer Karen McLoughlin said.
The firm added (net) about 11,800 employees, including TriZetto and the year-end headcount was around 211,500.
Cognizant President Gordon Coburn said: "Integration of our USD 2.8 billion acquisition of TriZetto, completed in the fourth quarter, is well underway and we're excited by the healthcare opportunities we see.