The country's third-largest software services exporter Wipro today reported a 28.8 per cent jump in net profit for the fourth quarter, helped by a revival in Europe, robust growth in the US and a cost optimisation drive.
Profit climbed to Rs 2,226.5 crore in the three months ended March 31 from Rs 1,728.7 crore a year earlier, the Bangalore-based company said in a statement.
Net sales grew 21.7 per cent to Rs 11,703.6 crore from Rs 9,613.1 crore a year earlier. The results are under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
Wipro, which expects a strong deal pipeline in the first quarter of this financial year, projected IT services revenue of USD 1.715-1.755 billion in the three months ending June 30.
"The steady improvement in global economy, coupled with the exciting pace of technological advancements, presents us with opportunities to create innovative solutions to help our customers differentiate, compete and succeed in their respective market," Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said.
Revenue from IT services stood at Rs 10,620 crore, up 24 per cent year-on-year.
In US dollar terms, IT services revenue was USD 1.72 billion, up 8.5 per cent year-on-year and in line with its projection of USD 1.712-1.745 billion for January-March.
"Fourth quarter has gone off well as planned. We have achieved a sequential revenue growth of 2.5 per cent for the quarter in line with our guidance.
"Our investments in automation, platform-based delivery and process simplification have helped us expand our margins by 430 basis points y-o-y to 24.5 per cent -- our highest margin in last 15 quarters," Wipro Chief Executive Officer T K Kurien told the media here.
For 2013-14, Wipro's profit rose 17.5 per cent to Rs 7,796.7 crore and revenue grew 16.1 per cent to Rs 43,754.9 crore.
IT services revenue for the year was at USD 6.62 billion (up 6.4 per cent y-o-y) or Rs 39,950 crore (up 18 per cent).
Wipro added 59 customers in the quarter. It had 1,46,053 employees as of March 31 in its IT services business.
"We saw strong deal closure in the current quarter with our order book being one of the highest we have ever seen and we see the momentum continue in the first quarter this fiscal also and we have a strong funnel in terms of deals coming up for closure," Kurien said.
There is a seasonality with the firm's quarterly performance, which is playing out in the first quarter also, he added.
"As we enter the year, we see broad demand trends remaining stable both in terms of volume and realisations," he said.
