Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation beat its top Indian peers in both profitability and revenue growth (in percentage terms) in December 2015 quarter driven by higher spending by North American clients in healthcare and financial sectors.

The US-based software company with development centres in India reported a 17 per cent growth in net profit to $423 million for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2015 against $363 million in the corresponding quarter of 2014.

Quarterly revenue rose to $3.23 billion, up 17.9 per cent from the year-ago quarter.

Both quarterly net profit and revenue were in line with the company’s expectation while announcing previous quarterly results for 2015.

After the December floods in Chennai, Cognizant in January said that it successfully executed its Business Continuity Plan, which largely mitigated the financial impact of the flooding. It then reaffirmed that it expected to achieve its previously announced full-year revenue guidance of at least $12.41 billion.

For 2015, the US-based software company reported a 13 per cent increase in net profit to $1.62 billion ($1.44 billion), says a company press release. Revenue increased by 21 per cent to $12.42 billion, slightly surpassing its earlier expectation of $12.41 billion.

Net employee addition for the quarter was approximately 2,400 to end the year with around 221,700. During the quarter, healthcare reported a 23.2 per cent increased in revenue followed by financial services with 16.6 per cent, manufacturing, retail and logistics 14.3 per cent and others 15.3 per cent.

Geography Revenue from North America increased by 18.7 per cent, Europe by 9 per cent and rest of the world by 34 per cent.

“We are pleased with our strong performance in 2015. Our investments in disruptive technologies, new business models and best-in-class delivery uniquely position us to enable clients to drive digital transformation at enterprise scale,” said Francisco D’Souza, CEO, Cognizant, in a press release.

Gordon Coburn, President, Cognizant, said that while digital opportunities significantly expand the company’s addressable market, the rapidly growing consulting, infrastructure and business process services and geographic market expansion, continue to be drivers of demand for services.

Outlook Cognizant expects the first quarter 2016 revenue to be in the range of $3.18-3.24 billion. The full-year 2016 revenue is expected to be in the range of $13.65-14.20 billion, the release said.

Cognizant added eight customers in the quarter, defined as clients that have the potential to generate at least $5-50 million or more in annual revenue, bringing the total number of strategic clients to 300, said Karen McLoughlin, Chief Financial Officer, Cognizant, in a conference call with analysts.

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