US IT consulting and systems integration company Cambridge Technology Partners Inc has reported second quarter net profit down 91.1% at $1.2m on revenue that rose 4.4% to $163.5m. For the first half, the net dropped 66.9% to $8.6m on revenue that was up 5.4% at $314.9m.
At the pre-tax level, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company said profit was down 91.5% for the quarter at $1.9m and 67.6% for the first half at $8.6m. Earnings per share fell 38% in the quarter, to $0.13, and 39% in the half, to $0.25.
The figures include a repositioning charge of $8.9m – within the range predicted after the first quarter – for retraining and relocating a large number of employees. This has resulted from a shift in demand away from ERP towards interactive and web-based services. Revenue from Cambridge’s customer management services grew 45% in the quarter while its interactive solutions lines increased 41%.
Cambridge’s recent financial woes have attracted speculation that it could be a takeover candidate. Larger services outfits like Computer Sciences Corp and EDS Corp have already been mentioned as possible suitors, as has Computer Associates
International Inc. The latest favorite is IBM Global Services.
