HCL Tech Q4 net zooms 20.8% to Rs2,325 cr, revenues up 10.5-12.5%

HCL Technologies, India's fourth largest IT services firm, has reported a near 21 per cent growth in net profit to Rs2,325 crore for fiscal fourth quarter ended 31 March 2017. Revenues for the quarter grew 20 per cent to Rs12,053 crore, HCL said.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs1,926 crore on revenues of Rs10,698 crore for the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

Noida-based HCL reported an operating margin (EBIT) of 20 per cent for the January-March quarter of FY17. 

For the full fiscal 2016-17 (FY17) HCL reported a net profit of Rs8,457 crore on revenues of Rs46,723 crore. The company expects operating margin (EBIT) to be between 19.5 and 20.5 per cent for the current fiscal.

HCL said its revenue for the year grew 10.5 to 12.5 per cent in constant currency terms at a time when larger peers like Infosys and Wipro gave flat growth guidance for this financial year on the back global uncertainties.

''Our Mode 2 and 3 services, which focus on new growth areas like Digital, Cloud, Security and IoT as well as products and platforms registered a very impressive 30.9 per cent growth in FY17. Our differentiated employee engagement practices, underlined by a focus on next–gen learning and development, helped us reduce attrition rates to 16.9 per cent. Going forward, we will continue to accelerate investment in high–growth areas,'' said C Vijayakumar, president and CEO, HCL Technologies.

The board of directors of the company has declared an interim dividend of Rs6 per share for the quarter. HCL had announced a share buyback programme of up to Rs3,500 crore during Q4.

HCL has aggressive been expanding in newer areas such as cloud-based services, engineering design through acquisitions.

Last month, HCL said it would acquire US-based mortgage business service provider Urban Fulfillment Services, LLC for more than Rs199 crore ($30 million). Through the acquisition of UFS, a 15-year-old mortgage business process and fulfilment services provider spread across three centres in the US, HCL aims to scale up its digital technology based services to clients. This acquisition will also help the company expand its local workforce in the US as UFS has 350 highly-skilled professionals in the US.

Growth through acquisitions would drive business for Indian IT services companies in the US where stricter immigration norms would otherwise squeeze the largest IT market.