Infosys Q1 Net up 21.6%; attrition rate hits record 19.5%

IT major Infosys today reported a healthy 21.6 per cent growth in consolidated net profit for the first quarter, helped by increase in business from Europe and improved operational efficiency.

The city-based firm posted a net profit of Rs 2,886 crore for the quarter ended June 30 this fiscal against a net profit of Rs 2,374 crore in the year-ago period.

Consolidated revenue for the reported quarter were up 13.3 per cent to Rs 12,770 crore from Rs 11,267 crore in the same quarter of 2013-14 fiscal.

Commenting on the performance, Infosys' outgoing CEO and Managing Director S D Shibulal said: "We continue to enjoy the confidence of our clients by demonstrating superior execution capability and value realisation."

However, Infosys' employee attrition hit a record high of 19.5 per cent in the April-June quarter of 2014-15 fiscal from 16.9 per cent in the year-ago period, signalling that the internal woes of the country's second largest IT services firm are not yet over.

The firm has witnessed a spate of exits of its top level executives since June last year when co-founder NR Narayana Murthy was called back from retirement to put the firm back on a growth trajectory.

Commenting on attrition, Infosys COO U B Pravin Rao said: "Employee attrition rates are worrisome and we are implementing various initiatives to retain good talent."

For 2014-15, Infosys retained its conservative revenue guidance of 7-9 per cent in USD terms and 5.6-7.6 per cent in rupee terms, much below Nasscom's industry growth outlook at 13-15 per cent in dollar terms.

In US dollar terms, its consolidated net profit rose 15.3 per cent to USD 482 million in the April-June quarter of this fiscal, while revenues rose 7.1 per cent to USD 2.13 billion during the period.

Infosys shares were trading at 1.01 per cent, up  Rs 3326 apiece on BSE in the afternoon session. The Sensex was trading lower by 0.61 per cent at 25,218.40.