Plano, Texas-based Perot turned in a net profit of $78.3m during the twelve months ended December 31 2002, compared to a net loss of $2.7m in 2001, on revenue that increased 11% to $1.33bn. For the fourth quarter, Perot made a net profit of $19.9m, up from a net profit of $6.6m in 2001, on revenue that grew 6% to $330.4m.

The increase in revenue and profitability during the fourth quarter and full year was largely due to the company stepping into the government sector services market through its July 2002 acquisition of ADI Technology for $47m, an IT engineering firm for the US defense, law enforcement and intelligence agencies. In the fourth quarter Government Services added $18.9m and in the full year added $38.2m, which offset a decline in IT consulting spend, which was down 10% in the fourth quarter and 4% on the year at $59.7m. The largest division meanwhile, IT Solutions, which makes up Perot’s systems integration and outsourcing services, remained flat in the fourth quarter at $296.4m, although it grew 8% during the year to $1.23bn.

Perot is keen to continue expanding its presence in the US government sector to take advantage of the increased budgeted spend for the homeland security market. And last week the company announced plans to acquire specialist government sector services firm Soza & Company Ltd for $75m in cash, as well as a further $32m in cash and shares depending on the company achieving certain performance targets. Fairfax, Virginia-based Soza employs a total of 900 staff and reported revenue of $137m in full-year 2002, up 29% on 2001, although profitability was not disclosed.

Soza provides management and IT consulting and systems integration services for both public and private sector clients, and counts federal agencies such as the Department of Defense, Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency, US Coast Guard, Department of Health, and Department of Agriculture among its key clients. In January 2003, Soza signed one of its largest contracts to date, a $29.5m renewal with the US Mint to provide application development services, project management, database administration and system and network engineering.

In the first quarter of 2003, Perot expects revenue to be between $335m and $350m, an increase of between 13% and 18% sequentially. However between $20m and $25m of this is expected to come from the Soza acquisition.

Source: Computerwire