Wipro meets Q3 estimates, profit up 2%

IT services major, Wipro, reported a 2% rise in profits to Rs 2,243 crore for the third quarter, while revenue grew 7.23% to Rs 12,860 crore.

Wipro, the third largest IT services firm, showed IT services revenue grew sequentially or over the previous quarter by 0.3% to $1.84 billion, meeting its forecast and analyst expectations. Operating margins, calculated as sales minus costs, stood at 20.2%, which was impacted marginally due to spending on backup plans during the Chennai floods.

The company had reported profits of Rs 2,203 crore on revenues of Rs 11,992 crore in the October to December quarter in 2014.

“We delivered revenues in line with our guidance. We saw a pick-up in large deal closures led by global infrastructure services. It is becoming increasingly clear that customers want to simplify operations and optimize their IT spend while investing in digital to transform their business. We are well-positioned to take advantage of this trend,” said T K Kurien, Member of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Wipro said in a statement.

Wipro has forecast IT services revenue to grow marginally between $1.87 billion to $1.91 billion for the fourth quarter ending March.

“We are focused on driving market share growth in our core businesses through integrated domain and technology services, while investing for the future in building differentiated Digital capabilities,” said Neemuchwala, chief executive designate. “We will leverage our strong culture of innovation and extremely talented employee pool to build compelling value propositions for our customers.”

During the quarter, the company added 39 customers and acquired two firms — Cellent AG, a European IT consulting and services firm and Viteos Group, a platform back-office service provider in the alternative investment management industry.

Wipro's results follows Infosys, which has forecast higher revenues for the year ahead, while results of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the country's largest technology services firm was lacklustre due to impact of the Chennai floods and furlough in its traditional market. Wipro still lags growth behind its larger rivals such as Infosys, TCS and Cognizant even as it sees a leadership transition with incumbent chief executive Abid Ali Neemuchwala taking charge in April.

The company’s stock was trading at Rs 542, down 0.27%, on the BSE at 10:28 am.