CSC profits jump 64 percent

IT services giant CSC Australia announced a $36 million profit for the 2002-2003 financial year, a 63.6 percent increase on the previous year.

The profit boost was a result of strategic changes to its business which had seen it streamline business activities, the company said in a statement.

The company's staff numbers dropped by 400 during the financial year to 3700 mostly through voluntary attrition, the company said.

Revenue however, was slightly down for the year to June 2003 due to lower customer spends in several sectors but increased efficiency and a shift in services mix raised CSC margins, the company said. It claimed profit margins had doubled from 1.5 percent to 3.3 percent over the period.

CSC Australia CEO Mike Shove, said the result was encouraging in a tight market. 'The objective for 2002-2003 was to make our business model even more efficient as well as consolidating our major accounts and winning new business.

'We achieved that, even though the market is difficult and the overall outlook for the industry has been one of rationalisation,' he said.

Globally, net income for the financial year was US$440.2 million while revenue remained steady at US$11.3 billion. Around 80 percent of its revenues were derived from multi-year agreements and it won US$7.7 billion in new business for the year.