Cognizant posts net income of $648 mn in Q4 2018; appoints Vodafone executive Brian Humphries as new CEO

New Delhi: IT company Cognizant Wednesday posted net income of $648 million for the fourth quarter ended 31 December, 2018. It had recorded a net loss of $18 million in the same period a year ago. Cognizant also announced that Brian Humphries, currently CEO of Vodafone Business, will be its chief executive officer and member of the Board of Directors, effective from 1 April, 2019. [caption id=“attachment_4409095” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Cognizant. Pic courtesy: Reuters.[/caption] The revenue of the company stood at $4.13 billion, up 7.9 percent 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 Chief Executive Officer Francisco D’Souza said in a statement. For the full year ended 31 December, 2018, it posted an increase of 39.6 percent 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 percent 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 expects first quarter and full year 2019 revenue growth to be negatively impacted by 170 basis points and 70 basis points, respectively.