i-flex net income down 6.5 per cent

An appreciating rupee dented i-flex consolidated net income for the quarter ended September 30, 2007. Its net income at Rs 87.4 crore dipped 6.5 per cent compared with Rs 93.5 crore for the corresponding quarter last year. The company's revenue (Indian GAAP) increased to Rs 575.8 crore (Rs 499.2 crore) for the quarter.

On the quarter-on-quarter basis, i-flex recorded a 12 per cent top line growth at Rs 576 crore (Rs 513 crore). During the quarter, net income jumped 138 per cent to Rs 87.4 crore compared with Rs 36.7 crore for the trailing quarter.

The rising rupee impacted the overall margins by 100-200 basis points on the sequential basis. The company had exchange gains of Rs 6 crore this quarter whereas last quarter it had a loss of Rs 12 crore.

Makarand Padalkar, CFO, i-flex solutions, mentioned that the effective hedging strategies have enabled the company to contain the impact of rupee appreciation.

He said, "We have made significant investments in expanding our reach, infrastructure and staff strength to meet the requirements of business growth. We have completed the establishment of our subsidiary, i-flex solutions s.a., in Greece giving us local capability to serve our customers in the Balkans region."

The company signed new license fee of $22 million during the quarter and added 13 new customers across products and services. Staff strength at the end of September 2007 was 10,778 with a net addition of 1,245 people during the quarter.

Attrition at 19.5 per cent was down 0.5 per cent.