3i Infotech Q3 net up 70% at Rs 28cr

Higher earnings from products business helped 3i Infotech post a 69.8% rise in net profit at Rs 27.9 crore on a consolidated basis for the third quarter ended December 31, 2006 when compared with Rs 16.45 crore in Q3FY06.

Consolidated income increased 53.22% to Rs 171.64 crore during the quarter under review as compared to Rs 111.99 crore in Q3FY06.

The company's sequential (Q-on-Q) revenue from operations grew 18.3%, while its net profit went up 20.6% over last quarter's figure.

Its operating margin increased to 27.4 per cent this quarter from 22.5% in the corresponding quarter last year.

3i Infotech's products business now contributes 52% to the revenue, and  the remaining 48% comes from its services business. Its SG&A expenses have risen by 42.48% year-on-year.

V Srinivasan, managing director & CEO, 3i Infotech, said, "3i Infotech has a two-pronged growth strategy. While we continue to aggressively grow our existing line of products organically, we are also looking to fill gaps in
our offerings through acquisitions. This has allowed us to build a
formidable line of end-to-end, integrated product and solution offerings.
Our results are therefore a reflection of our strategy and growth trajectory
which we have envisaged for ourselves."

Meanwhile, ICICI  - a major stakeholder - is reportedly planning to reduce its stake to below 30%. It is scouting for financial investors, and there were market rumours that Oracle is in the race. Srinivasan, however, dismissed the rumours, but admitted that ICICI would be reducing its stake at some time.