Cognizant, the US-listed Indian IT business saw its Q2 revenue of $2.52bn up 16.5% from the year-ago period and up 3.9% sequentially. Business in Europe rose 20% yr/yr, but it is warning of longer sales cycles.
Business in Europe was lifted by new deals outside the UK, which rose only 14% yr/yr. The rest of Europe was nearer 30% up. Net headcount addition for the quarter was approximately 8,800, and Non-GAAP operating margin was 21.0%, higher than the target range of 19-20%.
"Due to weakness at certain clients and longer than anticipated sales cycles for certain large integrated deals, we are adopting a more conservative stance for the remainder of the year and revising our 2014 revenue guidance to growth of at least 14% over the prior year, while maintaining our full year non-GAAP EPS guidance of $2.54," said Francisco D'Souza (above), Chief Executive Officer of Cognizant. "We continue to believe that we have the right strategy and portfolio of services to deliver long-term industry leading growth and also meet the ever changing demands of the market."