Nipuna still in the red, Q3 net loss at Rs 11 crore

Nipuna, the BPO arm of Satyam Computer Services Limited, registered a growth of 255 per cent in its revenues to Rs 12.38 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2004. The subsidiary, however, is still in the red and has reported a net loss of Rs 11.17 crore for the quarter.

According to B Ramalinga Raju, chairman of Satyam Computer Services Limited, Nipuna is likely to marginally fall short of the annual revenue guidance and is expected to break even in fiscal 2006.

Nipuna added two new companies during the quarter, including a leading technology solutions provider and a leading UK-based construction and infrastructure company. The company, which currently has 20 customers including 18 customers from Satyam, has an employee base of 1,242 at the end of the third quarter.

Addressing a press conference to announce the third quarter results of the company, Raju said, "The revenues from the software services have been impressive despite the 3.5 per cent appreciation of the rupee against the dollar, which continues to be a major macro economic factor impacting our performance."

Satyam has reported a 19.82 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 174.78 crore, as compared to Rs 145.86 crore in the corresponding previous quarter.

However, the company's sequential net profit dipped 7.42 per cent from Rs 188.79 crore to Rs 174.78 crore. The company's software services income for the quarter increased 34.5 per cent to Rs 891.26 crore as compared to Rs 662.7 crore in the corresponding previous quarter and a sequential increase of 5.09 per cent from Rs 848.1 crore.

Raju also said that the revenues from the European and Asia Pacific region witnessed a sequential increase of 21.3 per cent and 20 per cent respectively.

"The increase in revenues from Europe and Asia Pacific region has meant that the dependency on the North American markets has come down and has been the lowest ever for the company," he said.

Satyam, during the quarter, has added 28 new customers including three Fortune Global 500 companies. The company during the quarter has added 793 new employees taking the total number of employees recruited during the first quarter of the current financial year to 3,600.

"We are on track to reach the projected target of 4,500 associates for the year with the addition of the 793 employees," Raju said.

According to him, the attrition rate of the company during the quarter dropped by 15 per cent as compared to the corresponding previous quarter.

The company has also revised the revenue guidance for the financial year and now expects its to be between Rs 3,429 crore and Rs 3,433 crore, indicating an annual growth of 34.9 to 35.1 per cent as against the earlier forecast of 34.4 per cent to 34.9 per cent.

"We expect the earning per share for the fiscal is expected to be between Rs 22.9 and Rs 23 implying an annual growth of 33.2 per cent to 33.7 per cent," he said.