IMS had recorded $8 million of net income in the year-ago period. But revenue for the second quarter of 2014 was up 6.1% to $662 million from $624 million in the second quarter of 2013 thanks to 12.7% revenue growth in the company's technology services sector. Revenue for its information offerings segment increased 1.8%.
“We delivered another strong quarter of revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth through steady execution of our strategy,” Ari Bousbib, chairman and CEO of IMS Health, said in a release. “Our recent successful IPO and debt refinancing position us well to significantly increase earnings and cash flow and, at the same time, to continue investing for future growth, including the pending transaction with Cegedim.”
IMS Health announced last month that it would acquire the information solutions and customer-relationship-management businesses of the French company Cegedim for about $520 million in cash. During a call with investors Thursday morning, management called the pending acquisition, which is expected to close early next year, “a great fit at a great price.”
IMS has been on a buying spree recently, scooping up Belgium-based Forcea, a provider of business intelligence applications and analytics, in May, and Swedish advisory and analytics firm Pygargus in December.
In its latest earnings release and call, management reaffirmed its expectations for the full year, anticipating revenue growth between 5% and 6% and adjusted net income growth of 15% to 20%. For the first six months of 2014, revenue rose 5.7%, compared with the first six months of last year. But the second quarter has so far pulled the company into an overall net loss for the first part of the year, reporting a loss of $244 million compared with net income of $20 million in the first two quarters of 2013.
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