Cognos, a world leader in business intelligence (BI) and corporate performance management solutions, has announced record results for the company`s fourth quarter and full fiscal year 2004, ended February 29, 2004. Revenue for the quarter was $202.1 million, an increase of 23% from Q4 of 2003, when revenue was $163.7 million.
Net income for Q4 of fiscal 2004 was $46.1 million, resulting in diluted earnings per share of $0.50. This was 56% higher than in Q4 of the prior fiscal year, when net income was $29.6 million and diluted earnings per share were $0.33.
"Net income was favourably impacted in the quarter by an improvement in the tax rate from 25% to 16% for fiscal 2004, resulting from the completion of tax audits that reduced overall tax exposure for the organisation," says David McWilliam, MD of Cognos SA. "Net income in the quarter was reduced by a one-time, pre-tax cost of $1.75 million related to a patent litigation settlement."
Revenue for the full fiscal year 2004 was $683.1 million, an increase of 24% compared with revenue of $551.0 million for the previous year. Net income for fiscal 2004 was $100.9 million, and diluted earnings per share were $1.10. The net income for fiscal 2003 was $73.1 million, or $0.81 per share.
Excluding the favourable change in tax rate and the one-time cost, pro forma diluted earnings per share in fiscal 2004 were $0.99.
Cognos ReportNet continued its strong momentum, McWilliam says, driving revenue growth in the quarter. BI revenue reached $195.1 million, an increase of 26% from $155.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2003. Total license revenue increased 18% to $93.5 million, compared to $79.6 million in the same period the previous year. Highlights of Q4 2004 include:
* $30 million in licence revenue for Cognos ReportNet in the last quarter;
* Over 1 000 ReportNet transactions in the quarter, from organisations like AT&T, Lockheed Martin, and the US Army, among others;
* The introduction of Cognos ReportNet 1.1, delivering tight integration with PowerPlay for industrial-strength enterprise reporting;
* Cognos Enterprise Planning (EP) doubled licence revenue from Q3 and it experienced a 24% overall revenue growth for the full year;
* The introduction of Cognos Enterprise Planning 7.2 provided high-level integration with the full Cognos product family; and
* 37 contracts, worth more than $1 million, were signed with Cognos during 2003.
"The company`s balance sheet remains strong with cash flow from operations at $80.5 million," McWilliam says. "As a result, the company exited the quarter with $388.2 million in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments. Through fiscal 2004 the company extended its leadership position in business intelligence and corporate performance management."
New CEO
Ron Zambonini will be retiring from his CEO position, effective 23 June 2004. Rob Ashe, currently president and COO of Cognos, will become CEO. Ashe will be nominated for election to the Cognos board of directors at the shareholders` meeting on the same day.
Zambonini will be named board chair, succeeding the current chair, James Tory, who will assume the position of lead director.
Zambonini joined Cognos in 1989 as vice president of research and development and was promoted to senior vice president of research and development within a year. In January 1993, he was named president and COO and was promoted to president and CEO in September 1995.
During his tenure as COO, Ashe oversaw the company`s entry into the corporate performance management market, the successful acquisition of Adaytum, and the launch of the next-generation enterprise reporting solution, Cognos ReportNet.
As he has served in numerous senior positions at Cognos, including COO, chief corporate officer, CFO, senior vice president of research and development, and senior vice president of global customer services.
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