Cognizant reports increase in revenue in Q3 but net profit falls 3.6 pct

US-based IT major Cognizant Tuesday said its net profit dipped 3.6 per cent to USD 477 million in the September quarter on account of higher foreign exchange losses.

The company had registered a net profit of USD 495 million in July-September 2017, Cognizant said in a statement.

"The decrease in net income was primarily due to higher net non-operating foreign exchange losses in 2018 driven by the depreciation of the Indian rupee versus the prior year period," it added.

The company's revenues rose 8.3 per cent to USD 4.08 billion in the third quarter, meeting its guidance range of USD 4.06-4.10 billion for the period. In the September 2017 quarter, its revenue was USD 3.77 billion.

Cognizant expects its revenue for the full year to be in the range of USD 16.09 billion to USD 16.13 billion. For the fourth quarter, it expects revenues to be in the range of USD 4.09-4.13 billion.

The company, which follows January-December as fiscal, has a majority of its workforce in India.

"Cognizant delivered strong third-quarter results in three of our four business segments. We made continued progress in our shift to digital by building new capabilities and helping our clients excel with digital services and solutions," Cognizant CEO and Vice Chairman of the Board Francisco D'Souza said.

He added that the company's performance this year demonstrates its "ability to both invest for growth and achieve our financial targets".

"We delivered solid performance in the third quarter as we continued to focus on sustainable revenue growth while increasing margins...The strength of our balance sheet allows the company to maintain financial flexibility while driving a substantial return of capital to shareholders," Cognizant CFO Karen McLoughlin said.