Patni Q3 net income up 37% at Rs 102 crore

BS 200 Scorecard

Patni Computer Systems has posted 37.2 per cent rise in net income at $22.3 million (Rs 102.4 crore), on a consolidated basis, in its third quarter ended September 30, compared with a net income of 16.2 million (Rs 71.4 crore) recorded during the comparable period of the previous financial year.

The IT services provider has recorded revenues of $151.7 million (Rs 697.1 crore) during the reporting quarter, up 6.1 per cent from $143 million in the same period last year.

The company's operating income shot up 40.8 per cent to $25.1 million (Rs 115.3 crore) against $17.8 million (Rs 78.3 crore) in the same period a year ago, on the back of improved operating efficiencies.

Patni's earnings per share for the quarter stood at 16 cents per share (Rs 7.42 per share) versus 13 cents during the same quarter last year, the company said in a release here today.

During the quarter, the top customer contribution towards the company's revenues fell to 14.1 per cent from 14.5 per cent in the previous quarter (Q2) of 2006-07. Revenue concentration of its top 10 clients also declined to 51.6 per cent in the September quarter from 54.1 per cent in Q2. The total number of active clients rose to 235 at the end of the quarter from 220 in Q2. Patni acquired 27 new clients during its third quarter.

Commenting on the third-quarter performance, Patni Chairman and CEO Narendra K Patni said, "We are delighted to report a strong increase in revenue and net income in the quarter under review, which is a result of new client acquisitions and efficient management of our cost structure. We are witnessing healthy demand escalation across all our verticals and service lines. To ensure adequate preparedness to meet this demand, we are expanding our facilities."

Previous year's tax review of Patni's US operations had resulted in additional provisions, which led to an increase in gross profit and operating income by around $7 million and decrease in net income by $19.9 million for Q2 CY06. Variations in Patni's Q2 CY06 financial performance as a result of these reviews had been referred to as 'additional provisions' in the said press release. Financial performance for Q2 CY06, excluding these additional provisions, has been considered for comparative performance review with Q3 CY06, the September quarter, in this release.

On the fourth quarter outlook, Patni said it expected net income of around $20.4-20.6 million on revenues of around $152 million, excluding foreign exchange gain or loss and taking the operations at a constant dollar value of Rs 45.50 per dollar.