Infosys Q1 Net up 21.6%; guidance below industry expectations

IT major Infosys today reported a healthy 21.6 % increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 2,886 crore for the quarter ended June 30 on growth in business from Europe and improved operational efficiency.

The Bangalore-based firm had reported a net profit of Rs 2,374 crore in the year-ago period, it said in a BSE filing.

The consolidated revenue for the reported quarter was up 13.3 % to Rs 12,770 crore from Rs 11,267 crore in the year-ago period.

For FY'15, the country's second-largest software services firm expects revenues to grow 7-9 % in USD terms and 5.6-7.6 % in rupee terms.

This is much below Nasscom's industry growth outlook at 13-15 % in dollar terms for the fiscal.

"We continue to enjoy the confidence of our clients by demonstrating superior execution capability and value realisation," Infosys CEO and Managing Director S D Shibulal said.

In US dollar terms, its consolidated net profit rose 15.3 % to USD 482 million in the April-June quarter of this fiscal, while revenues rose 7.1 % to USD 2.13 billion.

"We improved operational performance as a result of our cost optimisation initiatives and a focus on increasing productivity and utilisation," Infosys CFO Rajiv Bansal said.

This partially offsets the impact of compensation increases for employees this quarter, he added.

The company added 11,506 employees (gross), taking its headcount to 1,61,284 employees as on June 30, 2014. Its attrition rate was, however, higher at 19.5 % for the quarter.

The shares of Infosys were trading 1.19 % up at Rs 3,332 apiece on the BSE in early trade today.