Wipro's Q4 profit up 17% to Rs 1,729 crore

IT major Wipro Ltd on Friday reported 16.73 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 1,728.7 crore (Rs 17.28 billion) for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2013.

The country's third largest software services firm's net profit stood at Rs 1,480.9 crore (Rs 14.8 billion) in the year-ago period.

The consolidated total income of the company rose by 13 per cent to Rs 9,613.1 crore (Rs 96.13 billion) for the January-March quarter in 2013-13 fiscal as against Rs 8,506.1 crore (Rs 85.06 billion) in the same period of 2011-12 fiscal, it said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

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For the fiscal year ended March 31, the company's net profit rose by 19.07 per cent to Rs 6,635.9 crore (Rs 66.35 billion) from Rs 5,573 crore (Rs 55.73 billion) in 2011-12.

Revenues of the firm during the period rose by 17 per cent to Rs 37,685.1 crore (Rs 376.85 billion) from Rs 32,205.5 crore (Rs 322.05 billion) in the previous fiscal.

In November 2012, Wipro had announced demerging of its consumer care and lighting, infrastructure engineering and medical diagnostic businesses into an unlisted firm Wipro Enterprises, while Wipro Ltd will be a publicly listed company focusing on IT services and products effective March 31, 2013.

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The total revenues of Wipro, which include IT business, consumer care and lighting and others, rose by 11.72 per cent to Rs 11,026.4 crore (Rs 110.26 billion) in the last quarter of 2012-13 from Rs 9,869.1 crore (Rs 98.69 billion) in the year-ago period.

Wipro's IT Services revenues rose by 13 per cent to Rs 8,554 crore ($1.57 billion in dollar terms) in the last quarter of 2012-13 fiscal, while the profit from IT services before interest and tax increased by 10 per cent to Rs 1,727 crore ($317 million) during the period.

While presenting its third quarter results in January, the Bengaluru-based company had said it expects its revenues from IT services business to be in the range of $1.585 billion to $1.625 billion for the last quarter of 2012-13.

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Commenting on the fourth quarter results, Wipro CFO Suresh Senapaty said: "The cross currencies have been volatile and impacted our financial performance in the quarter.

"Excluding the impact of foreign exchange, we have been able to maintain margins on a sequential basis.

"We have shown significant improvements in cash flow generation for the year."

The company said it expects revenues from its IT services business to be in the range of $1.575-1.610 billion for the first quarter (April-June) of the current fiscal.

"We have completed the demerger of the 'Diversified Business' effective March 31, 2013 to make Wipro Ltd a pure play IT company.

"We are confident that being a technology focused company will provide a fresh momentum for growth," Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said.

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Commenting on the firm's results, Wipro CEO (IT Business) T K Kurien said: "We continue to see improvement in our customer satisfaction and employee engagement.

"Our continued investments in the go-to-market organisation positions us well for the future."

Wipro's IT services segment had 1,45,812 employees as of March 31, 2013, an increase of 2,907 people in the quarter.

The company added 52 new customers during the period.

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For the entire 2012-13 fiscal, Wipro's revenues in dollar terms stood at $7.95 billion, while its net profit was $1.22 billion.

The company's revenues from IT services was $6.21 billion during the period. 

Consumer Care and Lighting segment recorded revenue of Rs 4,059 crore (Rs 40.59 billion) for the year ended March 31, 2013, an increase of 22 per cent year-on-year.

Revenues for the fourth quarter of last fiscal rose by 15 per cent to Rs 1,044 crore (Rs 10.44 billion), it said.

Commenting on the markets, Kurien said: "There is volatility out there as far as we are concerned."

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On the pricing reduction he said: "It was driven by two factors.

"Primarily, it was driven by foreign exchange. "We got hit 0.7 per cent on foreign exchange, which on-site really is a 1 per cent impact for us.

"And also if you look at it, fourth quarter traditionally has lower number of working days."

Speaking on the outlook for 2013-14, Senapati said the company's performance in the quarters after the April-June period of the current fiscal will be better as the first quarter of a fiscal is generally weak for the company.

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"Overall it has been a decent performance so as far as the whole year and Q4 is concerned.  

"Plus topic in terms of employer and customer satisfaction has been the best.

"We think as we go forward, it gives us all the particular components to be doing well except for the Q1, where traditionally we have always been weaker," he added.