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Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp reported faster growth than its top Indian competitors in the third quarter ended September 30, thanks to strong demand for software solutions from various geographies, especially Europe.
The US-based software company, which has most of its employees in India, reported a 15.4 per cent increase in net profit at $319.6 million (Rs 1,975 crore) against $276.9 million in the corresponding period last year. Revenue increased 21.9 per cent to $2.31 billion compared with $1.89 billion a year ago.
Cognizant beat top Indian software exporters — Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro and HCL Technologies — in revenue growth, both sequentially and annually, according to data collated by Business Line .
The growth was broad-based across the entire portfolio of industries, services and geographies, said CEO Francisco D’Souza. The Nasdaq-listed company has revised its own outlook for fiscal 2013. It now expects to end the fiscal with a revenue of at least $8.84 billion, up 20.3 per cent from last year. While reporting the first quarter results, the company had said the revenue for the year ending December 2013 would be at least $8.6 billion, up 17 per cent.
“Our performance during the third quarter was stronger than anticipated due to a faster ramp-up in demand for outsourcing services and strong discretionary spend on consulting and technology services,” said Gordon Coburn, President.
Karen McLoughlin, Chief Financial Officer, added that during the quarter, the company increased its total cash and short-term investments by $460 million to $3.4 billion. Cognizant closed the quarter with 1,133 active customers, while the number of “strategic accounts” rose by seven to 236. Strategic clients, in the company’s lexicon, are those with the potential to ramp up annual revenue by $5 million to over $50 million.
Consulting and technology services represented 50.8 per cent of revenue and outsourcing services 49.2 per cent, she said.
Net employee addition for the quarter was around 2,100 and the company ended the quarter with a global headcount of 166,400, a release said.
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