IT services major Wipro ltd on Wednesday reported a 7.9 per cent growth in consolidated net profit at ` 2,084.8 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2014, helped by infrastructure services.
The city-headquartered firm posted a net profit (after tax, minority interest and share of profit of associates) of `1,932.1 crore in the year-ago period, it said in a statement.
Net sales of the country’s third largest software services exporter rose by 7.5 per cent to `11,816 crore in July-September quarter this fiscal from `10,990.7 crore in the same quarter of 2013-14 fiscal, it added.
Revenue from IT services stood at $1.77 billion, a quarter-on-quarter growth of 1.8 per cent and year-on-year of 8.6 per cent.
In July, the firm had said it expected IT services revenues in the July-September quarter to be in the range of $1.77-1.81 billion.
Commenting on the performance, Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said: “Business leaders in the US continue to exhibit increased confidence on growth prospects. Clients are increasingly looking to drive business value from their technology investments.”
He further said: “We are seeing positive sentiment in India with the confidence that the government is focused on driving an agenda of growth.”
The company said in the October-December quarter it expects revenues from IT services business to be in the range of $1.808-1.842 billion.
Wipro CEO TK Kurien said: “While the industry landscape is still undergoing change, we see multiple opportunity spaces for growth and gaining market share.”
“The firm continues to execute our stated strategy of leveraging platforms for non-linear growth and creating differentiated solutions around the new technology paradigms.”
The IT Services segment had a headcount of 154,297 as of September 30, 2014. The firm added 50 new customers during the second quarter.
Wipro CFO Suresh Senapaty said: “In Q2, we continued to build on our leadership position in Infrastructure Services and continued the momentum of deal wins.”
During the quarter, the benefits of rupee depreciation were negated by the US Dollar’s appreciation against other major currencies, he added.
“We continued to drive productivity and improving operating levers even as the effect of salary hike on this quarter’s Operating Margin was on expected lines,” Senapaty said.