L&T Infotech today reported a 11.4 per cent increase in its March quarter net at Rs 254.5 crore on higher revenues and margin expansion.
The 20-year IT arm of EPC major Larsen & Toubro, which rebranded itself as LTI today, posted a 16.1 per cent growth in post tax net at Rs 970.9 crore for FY17.
The company's chief executive and managing director Sanjay Jalona said it is targeting a 14-15 per cent jump in profits for FY 18.
Its total revenues were up 7.7 per cent to Rs 1,677.2 crore while the pre-tax profit margin expanded 1.20 per cent to 16.5 per cent during the quarter.
The margin expansion was on the back of a surge in digital revenues which now constitute 28 per cent of the total revenues from 20 per cent in year-ago period and also a jump in utilisation, its chief financial officer A K Sonthalia said over the phone.
He said for the fiscal as a whole, the utilisation rate increased by 4 percentage points to 78.3 per cent.
The company added 1,000 employees on a net basis during the fiscal and 400 during the quarter, to take the total strength to 21,023, he said.
The attrition improved to 16.9 per cent during the quarter from 18.4 per cent in the year-ago period.
The company will come out with wage hikes in July like it does normally, and may broadly stick to the range of 6-7 per cent for domestic employees and 2-3 per cent for foreign ones, Jalona said, stressing that it is yet to be firmed up.
The company, which has almost 65 per cent of its revenues coming from the US, is stepping up hiring in America because of the ongoing concerns around protectionist policies, Jalona said.
As the 'near-shoring' of work increases, the company has also opened up a centre in Warsaw, Poland and a subsidiary in Mexico during the last fiscal, he said.
It may open a 500-seat development centre at its Pune facility during this fiscal, he said, declining to give a guidance on its hiring plans.
The company board also decided to appoint S N Subrahmanyan -- who is set to be chairman A M Naik's successor -- as the non executive vice-chairman with immediate effect.
The board declared a final dividend of Rs 9.70 per equity share of Re 1 for FY17.
The company scrip corrected by 0.10 per cent to close at Rs 708.95 a piece on the BSE, as against a 0.77 per cent jump in the benchmark.
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