Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS), the BPO arm of diversified Hinduja Group, today reported 2.5% decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 52.76 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2014 on account of currency impact and ramp-up in the Philippines operations.
It had posted a net profit of Rs 54.09 crore in the year- ago period, HGS said in a BSE filing.
Consolidated net sales rose by 11.5% to Rs 732.52 crore in the October-December quarter this fiscal from Rs 656.93 crore in the same period of 2013-14 fiscal.
On the decline in net profits, HGS CEO Partha DeSarkar told PTI: "There was (some) revenue loss on account of exit of non-profitable clients which is in-line with our portfolio rationalisation strategy."
During Q3 FY 2014-15, the ramp-ups in the Philippines coupled with unfavourable movement of the Canadian Dollar had a negative impact the firm's profitability, he added.
"We believe that our profitability will improve on completion of ramp-ups in Philippines. Improvement in demand from telecom clients in Canada and steady performance of Europe and US operations strengthens our confidence that the growth momentum will continue in the mid to long term," DeSarkar said.
Revenue growth has been broad-based across geographies with Philippines being the major contributor, he added.
As of December 31, 2014, HGS had net debt of Rs 65.1 crore and networth of Rs 1,556.2 crore.
During the third quarter, HGS opened a new delivery centre in El Paso, Texas, with the capability to accommodate over 800 seats.
The UK and European operation is focused on consolidation of two London sites into one to cater to multilingual services primarily for Government and consumer goods sectors.
There was strong growth momentum in the healthcare vertical which has benefited both India and Philippines operations, but overall profitability of the India operation remained subdued due to the ongoing portfolio rationalisation, the firm said.
As of December 31, HGS had 140 active clients (excluding payroll processing clients) and its total headcount was 28,630, of which 57% were based in India, 21% in Philippines, 9% in the US, 10% in Canada and the remaining 3% in Europe.
