Infosys Q1 net profit rises 13.4% to Rs 3,436 crore

IT major Infosys on Friday posted a 13.4 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 3,436 crore (Rs 34.36 billion) for the first quarter ended June 2016 and slashed full-year revenue guidance to 10.5-12 per cent in constant currency terms.

The numbers were below market expectations, leading to the Infosys stock tumbling 8.4 per cent to Rs 1,077.10 on BSE in early trade.

The Bengaluru-based firm had reported a net profit of Rs 3,028 crore (Rs 30.28 billion) in the year-ago period as per Indian Accounting Standard, it said in a BSE filing.

The consolidated revenue for the quarter was up nearly 17 per cent at Rs 16,782 crore (Rs 167.82 billion), from Rs 14,354 crore (Rs 143.54 billion) in April-June of 2015.

For the full year 2016-17, the country's second-largest software services firm slashed its revenue forecast to 10.5-12 per cent in constant currency terms, lower than the previously estimated 11.5-13.5 per cent.

The outlook translates into 11.7-13.2 per cent revenue growth in rupee terms and 10.8-12.3 per cent in dollar terms.

"We had unanticipated headwinds in discretionary spending in consulting services and package implementations as well as slower project ramp-ups in large deals that we had won in earlier quarters, resulting in a lower than expected growth in Q1," Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka said.

He added that the company continued to see strong momentum in large deal wins.

In US dollar terms, its consolidated net profit rose 7.4 per cent to $511 million in the June quarter of 2016-17 while revenue went up 10.9 per cent to $2.5 billion.

The company added 3,006 employees (net basis) from March quarter, taking its headcount to 197,000 employees as on June 30, 2016.

The attrition rate was at 21 per cent for the said quarter.

Liquid assets, including cash and cash equivalents, available-for-sale financial assets and government bonds, were Rs 33,212 crore (Rs 332.12 billion) in the quarter under review compared with Rs 34,468 crore (Rs 344.68 billion) as on March 31, 2016.