Infosys Q4 consolidated net profit up 27.4% at Rs 2,316 cr

Country's second-largest software exporter Infosys on Friday reported a 27.4 per cent jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,316 crore (Rs 23.16 billion) for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2012.

This is against a net profit of Rs 1,818 crore (Rs 18.18 billion) reported in the January-March quarter of the last fiscal (2010-11), Infosys said in a filing to the BSE.

However, on a quarter-on-quarter basis, the net profit declined by 2.4 per cent.

Revenues rose 22 per cent to Rs 8,852 crore (Rs 88.52 billion) for the quarter from Rs 7,250 crore (Rs 72.5 billion) in the year-ago period.

"We had a very difficult quarter with revenues declining sequentially... The global currency market volatility continues to be a challenge for the industry," Infosys chief financial officer and Member of Board V Balakrishnan said.

Infosys while announcing its third quarter results earlier had given the Q4 revenue guidance in the range of Rs 9,391 crore-Rs 9,412 crore (Rs 93.91 – 94.12 billion), and anticipated revenue for the full year ending March 31, 2012, in the range of Rs 34,273 crore-Rs 34,294 crore (Rs 342.73 billion – Rs 342.94 billion).

The company expects revenue in the range of Rs 9,011 crore-Rs 9,100 crore (Rs 90.11 billion to Rs 91 billion) for the quarter ending June 30, and in the range of Rs 38,431 crore-Rs 39,136 crore (Rs 384.11 billion – Rs 391.36 billion) for the FY'13.

The company, however, has warned of challenging times ahead.

"The year ahead looks challenging for the IT industry with slow recovery in the global markets. We are executing on our Infosys 3.0 strategy which is meant to deliver high quality growth in the medium to long-term.

We are making investments and have put in place a structure to deliver on this strategy," Infosys CEO and Managing Director S D Shibulal said.

For the year ended March 31, the IT bellwether posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 8,316 crore (Rs 83.16 billion), up 21.88 per cent from Rs 6,823 crore (Rs 68.23 billion) over the year-ago period.

During the fiscal, revenue rose 22.66 per cent to Rs 33,734 crore (Rs 337.34 billion) from Rs 27,501 crore (Rs 275.01 billion) in 2010-11.

Further, as on March 31, 2012, cash and cash equivalents, including investments in available-for-sale financial assets and certificates of deposits, was Rs 20,968 crore against Rs 16,810 crore (Rs 168.1 billion).

Infosys, which has Goldman Sachs, BT Group and BP Plc among its clients, added 52 clients during the quarter.

At the end of March 31, the company had over 149,000 employees, which includes a gross addition of 10,676 staff during the fourth quarter. The net addition in Q4 was 4,906 people.

The Board of Directors recommended a final dividend of Rs 22 per equity share for the financial year ended March 31, 2012 and a special dividend (10 years of Infosys BPO operations) of Rs 10 per equity share.