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PARIS (Reuters) - French IT services company Capgemini said on Thursday it aims to hit an operating margin of 10 percent by the end of next year and maintain it through 2016, as it posted a slight increase in third-quarter revenue on strong U.S. demand.
While a full assessment of the firm's outlook for 2015 had yet to be completed, Chief Executive Paul Hermelin said Capgemini still aimed to improve its operating margin over the year, helped by sales in the United States and emerging markets.
"We are going to try to secure the 10 percent (operating margin) so we can reach it by the end of 2015," he told journalists on a conference call. "The atmosphere is good in the United States and in emerging countries."
The company, which has rapidly ramped up its offshore presence in the past year with a 17 percent rise in head count in India, sees a weak economic environment in Europe and notably in France dragging into 2015.
Capgemini is often seen as a bellwether for the wider French and European economies as customers must plan their spending on IT services over a medium term.
The company, which acquired Texas-based oil and gas services firm SSP in May, would be cautious about buying new entities in sectors of interest as Hermelin said their valuations remained high in his view.
"We have no imminent transactions," he said.
The company, which competes with big companies like IBM and Accenture, said that despite a tough economic climate in Europe organic revenue had grown slightly during the third quarter to 2.591 billion euros ($3.24 billion).
Hermelin reaffirmed a target of hitting organic revenue growth between 2 and 4 percent in 2014, with an operating margin of between 8.8 and 9 percent, thanks largely to growth in the United States and emerging markets.
While Spanish demand was picking up from a very low level, French customers in the industrial and telecoms sectors remained very wary, Hermelin said.
(Reporting By Nicholas Vinocur; editing by Susan Thomas)