Infosys Q2 net up 24% YoY; shrs sink on poor guidance

Infosys , India's leading software services exporter, just about met street expectations with its second quarter results, but hugely disappointed the street with a deeper cut in earnings per share guidance for the full year, sending its shares down over 7% in morning trade.

The Bangalore-based company, which has had a string of poor performances in recent quarters, reported a net profit of Rs 2,369 crore in July-September quarter, up 24% year-on-year (3.5% quarter-on-quarter), while quarterly revenue rose 21% from a year ago (2.5% sequentially) to Rs 9,858 crore.

Also Read: Bala to head Infosys BPO arm, Finacle; Bansal to be new CFO

Analysts on average had expected Infosys to report a net profit of Rs 2,359 crore, on revenue of Rs 9,910 crore, according to a CNBC-TV18 poll. US dollar revenue was seen at USD 1.81 billion for the quarter.

For the three-month period, Infosys' US dollar revenue came in at USD 1.797 billion.

What was disappointing was that earnings before interest taxes (EBIT) in the last quarter declined 3.6% sequentially to Rs 2,597 crore.

Also Infosys, cut its EPS guidance for the full year, which is now expected to be at at least USD 2.97, down from USD 3.03 it had forecast earlier, following the rupee appreciation.

It has also lowered its full-year rupee EPS guidance to Rs 160.61 from 166.46. Many analysts were expecting Infosys to guide for a full year EPS of Rs 162-163.

Infosys, meanwhile, still expects FY13 US dollar revenue to grow 5% to USD 7.343 billion.

"Global economic uncertainties continue to face the industry," warned SD Shibulal, CEO and MD.

Shibulal also said that it has increased employee wages (it had deferred wage hikes earlier), used some of the cash to acquire a consulting business and and enhanced investment in research and development and solutions. These initiatives, he says, will position Infosys well in the industry and provide a strong platform for future growth.

But the fact that Infosys only maintained its rupee guidance, despite the acquisition of Switzerland-based Lodestone, also disappointed the street.

Infosys has later clarified that it will factor in the acquisition in Oct-Dec quarter.

Infosys said it added 39 clients in the quarter. It hired 2,610 employees in July-Sep and as of Sep 30, it had 1,53,761 employees.

At 9:45 hrs, Infosys shares were at Rs 2,346 on NSE, down 7.4% from previous close.

Also Read: Bala to head Infosys BPO arm, Finacle; Bansal to be new CFO