Wipro Q2 profit up 28.5 percent, beats estimates

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Wipro Ltd, India's third-largest IT services exporter, beat analyst estimates with a 28.5 percent rise in quarterly profit thanks to higher spending by its biggest clients.

Wipro said revenue in its main IT services business in the three months to December 31 will grow in a range of 1.8-3.6 percent in dollar terms from the previous quarter, up slightly from an analyst estimate of 1.5-3.5 percent.

Consolidated net profit for the three months ended September 30 rose to 19.32 billion rupees from 15.04 billion rupees a year earlier, Wipro said in a statement after the close of markets on Tuesday.

 

That compares with the 18.6 billion rupee mean estimate of 29 analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Wipro said revenue at its 10 biggest customers rose by 4.1 percent from the previous quarter, faster than its overall IT services sales growth of 2.7 percent.

Rivals Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and HCL Technologies Ltd also beat analyst estimates for September quarter profits, whereas profit at Infosys Ltd was pulled down by a one-off provision.

Shares of Wipro ended 1.7 percent higher at 514.80 rupees ahead of the results.

(Reporting by Harichandan Arakali; Writing by Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Tony Munroe)