Cognizant Technology Q3 GAAP income rises 17%

IT and business process outsourcing services provider Cognizant Technology Solutions has reported a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) net income of $112.8 million (Rs 534 crore) for the third quarter in 2008 compared with $96.2 million (Rs 455 crore) posted in the year-ago period, a growth of 17 per cent.

Revenue for the quarter increased 31 per cent from $558.8 million (Rs 2645 crore) in the third quarter of 2007 and 7 per cent sequentially to $734.7 million (Rs 3,492 crore) from $685.4 million (Rs 3,245 crore) in the second quarter of 2008.

"During one of the most volatile and disruptive periods for the global economy in recent memory, Cognizant’s overall performance in the third quarter, including our industry-leading revenue growth and excellent operating margin, clearly demonstrates the strength of our business model," said Francisco D’Souza, president and chief executive officer of Cognizant.

"The quarter further validates our long-term strategy of reinvesting in the business and strengthening our domain and technical expertise. Through this period of economic uncertainty, we are working with clients across all sectors, including banking and financial services, to help with the twin challenges of simultaneously driving further cost savings, while investing to capture new growth opportunities. We believe that this positions us well to navigate through this period of economic turbulence as well as for long-term growth once the economy improves," he added.

"We are increasingly engaged as a trusted partner to our clients at the senior executive levels because our ability to bring cost savings and higher productivity is so important to their enterprise value. In the coming quarters, we expect to use our agility and broad range of services to become more instrumental in helping clients navigate these turbulent times and emerge as even stronger businesses." Revenue for the current financial year is expected to be least $2.81 billion (Rs 13,303 crore), a company release said.

Fourth quarter 2008 revenue is anticipated to be at least $746.7 million (Rs 3,535 crore).