The Hindu : Business : Wipro logs 12 p.c. rise in net

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Wipro logs 12 p.c. rise in net

Corporate Reporter

Global IT services revenue fetches $910 m in third quarter

Strong growth in BPO business and testing services
The company adds 2,389 employees in IT services

— PHOTO: G. R. N. SOMASHEKAR

KEEPING UP THE MOMENTUM: Azim Premji (right), Chairman, and Suresh Senapaty, CFO, Wipro, addressing a press conference in Bangalore on Friday.

CHENNAI: Country’s third largest software developer, Wipro, on Friday reported posted a net profit of Rs. 854 crore in the third quarter ended December 31, 2007 against Rs. 765.40 crore in the corresponding period in the previous year, a rise of 12 per cent. Total revenues were higher at at Rs. 5,302.50 crore against Rs. 3,972.20 crore. The share of global IT services and products was higher by 26 per cent at Rs. 3,616.30 crore against Rs. 2,875.5 crore.

In the nine months ended December 31, 2007, the company has reported a 15 per cent rise in net profit which stood at Rs. 2,403.30 crore against Rs. 2,086.0 crore in the corresponding period in the previous year. Total revenues have increased by 34 per cent to Rs. 14,257.30 crore from Rs. 10,656.10 crore. Global IT services and products accounted for 9,808.30 crore against Rs. 8,045.70 crore, representing a growth of 22 per cent.

Commenting on the performance, Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro, said “The results for the quarter are satisfying. We continue to see good momentum in all our businesses. Revenues from our Global IT Services at $910.1 million for the quarter, were ahead of our guidance of $905 million. Our financial services business grew nearly double digit sequentially during the quarter despite this being challenging times for the sector. We had strong growth in our BPO business and testing services. We also had our retail and healthcare verticals growing ahead of our company growth rate. Our top 10 customers grew at a healthy rate during the quarter and we won a good set of new clients. On the operational front, we have seen a 200 basis points increase sequentially in the mix of our revenues from fixed price projects. Our price realisation improved during the quarter by about 50 basis points sequentially.

“Looking ahead, for the quarter ending March 2008, we expect our revenue from our global IT services business to be approximately $955 million.”

Suresh Senapaty, Chief Financial Officer, Wipro, said “Improved realisations and rationalisation of bulge mix helped us fully mitigate the pressure on profitability on account of foreign exchange impact. The drop in our Global IT margins by 100 bps sequentially was primarily on account of our Infocrossing acquisition. We have seen an increase in the number of $50 million clients and now have our first $100 million client”

During the quarter, global IT services and products business added 39 new clients, of which 10 were Global 500 or Fortune 1000 companies. Nine of the new clients were technology clients and 30 were enterprise clients.

The company had 79,832 employees as of December 31, 2007 which includes 59,925 employees in IT services and products business and 19,907 in BPO services business. It added 2,389 employees in its IT services and products business during the quarter.

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