Wipro Q4 profit up 4 p.c. at Rs. 1,375 cr

BANGALORE, INDIA: Indian IT major Wipro reported on Wednesday that its net profit for the financial year fourth quarter ended March 31 was Rs. 1,375.4 crore, up 4.2 per cent from Rs. 1,319 crore in the third quarter. Compared to the year-ago quarter the profit is up 14 per cent.

Wipro's consolidated net revenue for the reporting quarter grew 6 per cent to Rs. 8,302 crore against Rs. 7,829 crore in the third quarter.

IT Services revenues were Rs. 6,289 crore ($1,412 million), an increase of 20 per cent YoY. IT Services Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) was Rs. 1,388 crore ($312 million), an increase of 9 per cent YoY.

Wipro declared a final dividend of Rs.4 ($0.091) per share/ADS, taking the total dividend declared during the year to Rs.6 ($0.131) per share/ADS.

For the financial year ended March 31, 2011, the net profit was Rs. 5,298 crore ($1.19 billion), an increase of 15 per cent YoY. Total revenues rose to Rs. 31,099 crore ($6.98 billion), an increase of 15 per cent YoY.

IT Services revenues were Rs. 23,485 crore ($5.27 billion), an increase of 16 per cent YoY. IT Services Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) was Rs. 5,341 crore ($1.20 billion), an increase of 12 per cent YoY.

Wipro said its revenue in the fiscal first quarter is expected to be in the range of $1.39 billion to $1.42 billion.

“I am disappointed by their guidance. They have forecast flattish growth in the first quarter compared to expectations of about 2.5 to 3 percent growth,” Shradha Agarwal, a sector analyst with Batlivala & Karnani Securities in Mumbai, told Reuters. “It will make the task of matching the growth rates of rivals tougher for them.”

Wipro said during this quarter, Wipro said it added 68 clients in the quarter - its strongest pace of addition in at least three years - while adding 2,894 employees.

In Q4, it signed an agreement to acquire the Global Oil and Gas Information Technology practice of the Commercial Business Services business unit of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC).

“This acquisition will further strengthen Wipro’s leadership position in the Energy, Natural Resources and Utilities Strategic Business Unit (SBU),” it added.

This quarter, it also signed an agreement with Temenos, the world's leading supplier of packaged banking software, to deliver core banking on an Application Service Provider (ASP) model to European banks.

It also signed a few other deals as well during this quarter, which include a leading European Banking Conglomerate’s Investment Banking division, Lloyds, a leading Pharmacy retailer in USA, Punjab Excise, National Informatics Center (NIC), as also two State Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG) projects from Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu governments.