Infosys beats street; Q1 net up 4% YoY; holds FY14 guidance
The Bangalore-based company has maintained its FY14 US Dollar revenue growth guidance of 6-10 percent and expects rupee revenue to rise 13-17 percent this financial year.
July 12, 2013 / 15:53 IST
Moneycontrol Bureau
India's second largest software services exporter Infosys reported a better-than-expected 4 percent year-on-year rise (1 percent quarter-on-quarter dip) in first quarter consolidated net profit at Rs 2,374 crore, helped by new deal wins. The company also maintained its earlier US Dollar revenue growth guidance for FY14, sending shares up over 14 percent in opening trade.The Bangalore-based company's consolidated revenue in April-June quarter gained 17 percent year-on-year (8 percent sequentially) to Rs 11,267 crore.Analysts on average had expected Infosys to report a net profit of Rs 2,315 crore, on revenue of Rs 11,029 crore, according to a CNBC-TV18 poll.Infosys added 66 clients in the quarter and is now cautiously optimistic of the year ahead."Despite facing an uncertain macro environment, changing regulatory regime and a volatile currency environment, we have done well in Q1 and are cautiously optimistic about rest of the year," SD Shibulal, CEO, said on Friday.In US Dollar terms, net profit was marginally up year-on-year, but down 6 percent quarter-on-quarter at USD 418 million, while revenue rose 14 percent year-on-year (3 percent sequentially) to USD 1.99 billion.This was Infosys' first results announcement since the board reappointed founder Narayana Murthy as its executive chairman to steady the ship after disappointing several quarters amid slowdown in discretionary spends by clients. It has maintained its full year US Dollar revenue growth guidance of 6-10 percent, and expects rupee revenue to rise 13-17 percent in FY14.Industry body NASSCOM expects the sector's US Dollar revenue to grow 12-14 percent and the country's largest IT firm Tata Consultancy Services has said it will grow ahead of that.Its EBIT (earnings before interest, taxes) margin in the first quarter came in at 23.64 percent, compared with 23.55 percent in the Jan-March quarter. But margins could be impacted going ahead due to the wage hikes effective July."We maintained our margins and continued making investments in the business. We have announced compensation increases for FY14, effective July, which will affect our margins in the future quarters," said Rajiv Bansal, CFO.Infosys said it continues to see good momentum for its offerings in products and platforms space. Over 9 clients, across countries, have adopted its products and platforms, excluding its financial product Finacle.The company net added 575 employees in the quarter (10,138 on a gross basis) and as of June 30, it had 1,57,263 employees.It had liquid assets including cash and cash equivalents, available-for-sale financial assets, and government bonds worth Rs 24,078 crore at the end of the quarter.At 9:30hrs, Infosys was up near 12 percent at Rs 2,829.05 on NSE. Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
