Infosys Q1 net profit up nearly 5% at Rs3,030 crore

IT major Infosys today reported a 4.9-per cent increase in its consolidated net profit, at Rs3,030 crore, for the quarter ended 30 June 2015, compared to that in the same period of previous year.

Profit for the quarter, however, was 2.1 per cent lower compared to the net profit for the previous quarter (Q4-2014-15).

Earnings per share (EPS) stood at Rs13.26 for the quarter ended 30 June 2015, showing a 4.9 per cent year-on-year growth and a 2.21 per cent sequential fall.

The country's second-largest software services firm had reported a net profit of Rs2,886 crore in the year-ago period, it said in a BSE filing.

Consolidated revenue for the quarter was up 12.4 per cent at Rs14,354 crore, from Rs12,770 crore in April-June 2014.

Sequential revenue growth in the April-June 2015 quarter hit a 15-quarter high of 7 per cent, Infosys said, adding that volume growth in Q1 also reached the highest in 19 quarters at 5.4 per cent.

During the quarter, Infosys signed six large deals with a total value of $688 million. The company also added 79 clients during the quarter.

Liquid assets of the company, including cash and cash equivalents, available-for-sale financial assets and government bonds were Rs30,235 crore as of 30 June 2015 compared to Rs32,585 crore as on 31 March 2015.

Infosys spent Rs45 crore in Q1 towards corporate social responsibility (CSR), which is primarily being carried out through the Infosys Foundation, its philanthropic arm.

The Infosys Foundation is engaged in several programmes aimed at alleviating hunger, promoting education, computing literacy, improving health, assisting rural development, supporting arts and helping the destitute.

Employee utilisation (excluding trainees) expanded 160 basis points to 80.2 per cent while annualised attrition rate for the quarter stood at 14.2 per cent compared to 23.4 per cent in Q1 of the previous fiscal.

''I am very pleased with our performance in the first quarter. Our efforts in redesigning our clients' experience and our widespread adoption of innovation, both in grassroots and breakthroughs, are starting to bear fruit in large deal wins and in the growth of large clients'', said Vishal Sikka, CEO and MD. ''While we are still early in our journey to become the leading next-generation services company, this gives us good momentum for the rest of the year.''

''The organisation realignment made earlier this year for deeper client and operational focus has resulted in strong volume growth'', said U B Pravin Rao, COO. ''We continued the roll out of employee engagement initiatives around collaboration and simplification of internal processes in order to retain the industry's best talent.''

''We are operating within our stated margin band, balancing strategic investments and client focus with operational efficiencies'', said Rajiv Bansal, CFO. ''Pricing environment is competitive which we are addressing through automation and improvement in productivity.''

For the whole of 2015-16, expects revenue to grow 7.2-9.2 per cent in dollar terms, and 11.5-13.5 per cent in rupee terms.

Industry body Nasscom expects the Indian IT-BPM sector to grow 14-16 per cent in dollar terms for the fiscal.