Cognos Net Up 62% In May QuarterCognos Net Up 62% In May Quarter

Cognos Inc. Wednesday reported solid gains in sales and earnings for its first quarter ended May 31, fueled by accelerating sales of its enterprise reporting and financial planning applications. The company reported and a 62% increase in net income to $20.1 million or 22 cents per share, and revenue of $173.6 million, up 15% from the same period last year.

"There was good growth on all fronts, and good profitability," says Rob Rose, Cognos' chief strategy officer. Software license revenue for the quarter grew 14% compared with a year ago, to $66.1 million. Sales of ReportNet, Cognos' enterprise reporting software which debuted last fall, and Enterprise Planning line of financial planning, budgeting, and forecasting applications were particularly strong, he say.

Rose says Cognos said it continues to sign large contracts for enterprise-scale software deployments, though its eight first-quarter contracts valued at $1 million or more fell by one compared with a year ago. But the company's 91 contracts valued at more than $200,000 represented a gain of nearly 60%.

Rose says more companies are undertaking big IT projects, though cost controls remain strict. Many companies, as they have since the 2001 recession, are implementing Cognos' business intelligence and financial planning apps to help control costs. But Rose says an increasing number are using Cognos' reporting and analysis software to identify new business opportunities in the expanding economy.

For its second quarter which ends in August, Cognos projects revenues will be in the range of $180 million to $182 million and earnings 25 cents or 26 cents per share. For fiscal 2005 Cognos projects revenues of about $775 million and earnings of about $1.22 per share.