Wipro on Friday reported an 8 per cent growth in its consolidated net profit to Rs2,192.8 crore in the December quarter, helped by growth in healthcare and infrastructure services business.
The country’s third largest software services company’s net profit was Rs2,014.7 crore in the year-ago period. Consolidated revenue grew 7 per cent to c12,085.1 crore in October-December quarter this fiscal from Rs11,327.4 crore in the same quarter of 2013-14. The figures are on IFRS basis.
IT services revenue rose by 7 per cent to $1.79 billion in the third quarter. Wipro had indicated that it expected its December quarter revenues to be in the range of $1.8-1.84 billion. The city-headquartered firm has projected IT services revenues to be in the range of $1.81-1.85 billion in the January-March quarter of 2014-15.
Commenting on the performance, Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said: “Developments in the global currency and commodity markets are affecting major economies unevenly even as India anticipates growth led by next-generation of economic reforms.”
The IT services segment had a headcount of 156,866 as of December 31, 2014 and the company added 44 new clients during the third quarter. Speaking to reporters, Wipro CEO TK Kurien said: “It has been a quarter of execution, the results of which are reflected in our performance. Our IT services revenue grew sequentially by 3.7 per cent in constant currency, towards the upper end of our guidance.”
Overall, the demand environment continues to hold steady with opportunities across key markets in North America and Europe, he added. The company also announced that its CFO Suresh Senapaty will retire on March 31, 2015, after attaining the age of superannuation and will be succeeded by Senior VP (Finance) Jatin Dalal, effective April 1, 2015.
Recognising Senapathy for his contribution, Kurien said he has been a doyen of the industry and has seen the evolution of the industry over the years. “This will be the last time when he will be with us for discussing the quarterly results. On behalf of Wipro, I thank him for all his contributions,” he added.
Wipro declared an interim dividend of Rs5 per share of par value Rs2 each. Senapaty said: “During the quarter, we saw all-round growth led by growth in our healthcare & life sciences business and global infrastructure services.”
Scrips of the company today closed at Rs555.25, down by 0.79 per cent from their previous close on the BSE. Giving details on performance by verticals, Kurien said the firm sees a recovery in demand in the retail and manufacturing sectors and the Banking & financial services continues to demonstrate strong business demand especially in Europe and India.
“There is caution for the oil and gas industry. We expect the plunge in crude prices to impact capex and discretionary spend in the near term,” he added. In a dynamic business environment, people remain Wipro’s primary assets with the quarterly annualised attrition dropping from 16.9 per cent to 16.4 per cent.
“last quarter we trained over 6,000 employees in new delivery methods and techniques. We are gratified that our teams are responding positively, with employee engagement scores improving over the previous year,” he added.