HCL Tech Q1 revenues up 3% to Rs 6091 cr

By Reema Tendulkar, Research Analyst at CNBC-TV18

HCL Technologies first quarter net profit rose 78% year-on-year (4% sequentially) to Rs 885 crore, sending its shares to a 52-week high as the India's fourth largest software services provider yet again topped street expectations.

Revenue in July-September quarter, was a little lower-than-expected Rs 6,091 crore, up 31% from a year ago (3% quarter-on-quarter).

Analysts on average had expected HCL Tech to report a net profit of Rs 788 crore on revenue of Rs 6,150 crore, according to a CNBC-TV18 poll.

HCL Tech's robust growth is in sharp contrast to its Bangalore-based rival Infosys, which had last week reported second quarter net profit largely in-line with expectations with disappointed the street with a deeper cut in full year earnings per share guidance.

Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were up 70% YoY to Rs 1,351 crore and EBITDA margin was at 22.2% in the first quarter, compared with 22% in Q4 and 17.1% in the year ago first quarter.

HCL Tech had a foreign exchange loss of Rs 61 crore in July-September, compared with a loss of Rs 18 crore a year ago.

In US dollar terms, HCL Tech's net income rose 51% year-on-year (4% sequentially) to USD 162 million and revenue was up 11% (3% quarter-on-quarter) to USD 1.1 billion.

HCL Tech's strong earnings growth came on the back of several new deal wins and growth across its key geographies of US and Europe, which grew 18% and 17% respectively in US dollar terms on a LTM  (last twelve months) basis.

It won 12 multi-year multi-million dollar deals during the quarter, across manufacturing, financial services and consumer services verticals.

It had 85,335 employees at the end of the last quarter, up from 80,520 a year ago.

HCL Tech shares hit a 52-week high of Rs 606.90 on NSE post the results. At 9:30 hrs, the stock was at Rs 595.90, up 2%.