Cognizant reports 7.9% revenue growth, names Brian new CEO

NEWDELHI: Information Technology company Cognizant on Wednesday posted net income of $648 million for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2018.

It had recorded a net loss of $18 million in the same period a year ago.

Cognizant also announced that Brian Humphries, currently chief executive officer (CEO) of Vodafone Business, will be its CEO and a member of the board of directors, effective from April 1, 2019.

The revenue of the company stood at $4.13 billion, up 7.9% from $3.8 billion in the year-ago quarter.

“Cognizant executed well in 2018, diversifying our revenue base and client roster, and investing to build distinctive leadership in six advanced digital capabilities,” Cognizant vice chairman and CEO Francisco D’souza said in a statement.

For t he f ul l y e a r e nde d December 31, 2018, it posted an increase of 39.6% in net income at $2.1 billion compared to $1.5 billion at the end of 2017.

The annual revenue of the company increased by 8.8% to $16.1 billion in 2018 from $14.8 billion in the previous year.

“In 2018, we continued to focus on operational excellence to drive margin enhancement, while continuing to invest in the business. In addition, we introduced a more balanced capital return program to start in 2019,” Cognizant chief financial officer Karen Mcloughlin said.

The company, however, said that based on current foreign exchange rates, it expect first quarter and full year 2019 revenue growth to be negatively impacted by 170 basis points and 70 basis points, respectively.