Convergys posts 4th-quarter profit, compared with year-ago period weighed by charges

Convergys moves to 4Q profit from year-ago loss

CINCINNATI — Business outsourcing services provider Convergys Corp. on Tuesday posted a fourth-quarter profit, compared with a loss in a year-ago period weighed by an asset impairment charge.

The company earned $41.6 million, or 33 cents per share, up from a loss of $29.3 million, or 24 cents per share, in the same period a year ago. The year-ago results included $61.1 million in charges for the impairment of goodwill related to the company’s human resources management business.

Revenue fell 3 percent to $684.4 million from $703.7 million.

Analysts, on average, expected a profit of 31 cents per share on revenue of $663.3 million, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.

For the full year, Convergys posted a profit of $77.3 million, or 63 cents per share, down from a profit of $92.9 million, or 75 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue climbed 1 percent to $2.83 billion from $2.79 billion.

The company forecast 2010 earnings of $1.05 to $1.20 per share on sales of about $2.6 billion. Analysts predict income of $1.17 per share on revenue of $2.72 billion.

In a statement, President and CEO David Dougherty said the company is “taking difficult but necessary actions to further streamline costs and pursue operating improvements.”

But the company did not say whether this involves job cuts and a representative could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Shares rose a penny to close at $11.06.