Cognizant Q1 profit climbs 11% to $113 mn

IT services firm Cognizant Technology Solutions which has a significant presence in India, reported a 11 per cent jump in profits at $113.13 million for the first three months ended March 31, 2009.

In the year-ago period, the entity's profit stood at $101.87 million.

Revenues for the first quarter shot up to $745.86 million as against $643.11 million in the corresponding period a year ago, it said in a statement.

"We are pleased with our performance during the first quarter which exceeded our revenue guidance and demonstrated Cognizant's continued ability to outperform the industry," India-origin Chief Executive and President of Cognizant Francisco D'Souza said.

"Looking to the full year, we remain confident of achieving our full year guidance of at least 10 per cent revenue growth," he added

Cognizant ended the first quarter with nearly $969 million in cash.

The statement noted that that earnings for the latest quarter included $5 million, of non-operating foreign currency exchange losses primarily resulting from the weakness in the European currencies and Indian rupee during the period.

For the second quarter, the company expects to rake in revenues to the tune of $760 million.

Cognizant anticipates revenues for fiscal year 2009 to be about $3.1 billion, "up at least 10 per cent compared to 2008".

"In addition, we continued to strengthen our balance sheet and ended the quarter with approximately $969 million in cash, short-term and long-term investments.

"We repurchased over $12 million of shares during the first quarter, and we remain confident in our ability to continue to prosper despite the economic downturn and to continue to deliver shareholder value," Cognizant's Chief Financial and Operating Officer Gordon Coburn said.

Recently, D'Souza said that the company has a very active acquisition programme and added that it has considerable cash to finance the buyout.