By IANS
Bangalore : A raising rupee notwithstanding, Wipro Ltd Friday projected robust growth from its global IT services and products business for the third quarter (Oct-Dec) of this fiscal (2007-08).
According to the IT bellwether’s financial statement here, its flagship IT division (Wipro Technologies) is expected to post $905 million (Rs.40 billion) revenue in the third quarter, with $60 million coming from its recent acquisitions such as the US-based Infocrossing.
“We expect revenue from our global IT services business to be about $905 million, including $60 million from acquisitions,” said Wipro chairman Azim H. Premji.
In the second quarter (July-Sep) of this fiscal (FY 2008), revenue from IT services exceeded by $20 million to $997 million from the guidance figure of $977 million given in July, registering 19 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth over the same period of last fiscal (FY 2007).
The sequential growth from the previous quarter (April-June) is 9.7 percent in dollar terms and 10 percent in rupee terms.
“The results for the quarter under review (Q2) demonstrate strong execution by team Wipro on all fronts. Revenues from our global IT services at $797 million (Rs.32.5 billion) were ahead of our guidance of $777 million (Rs.31.5 billion)
We saw broad-based growth across verticals, services and geographies. We have also won some large multi-million dollar deals during the quarter and the deal pipeline continues to be robust,” Premji said.
The group company (Wipro Ltd) posted net profit of Rs.8.24 billion in Q2, registering 18 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth over the same period last fiscal at Rs.7 billion under the Indian GAAP.
Similarly, the group’s consolidated revenue grew by 35 percent YoY to Rs.47.85 billion from Rs.35.46 billion in the corresponding period a year ago under the Indian GAAP.
Under the US GAAP, the net income grew by 17 percent YoY to $204 million and total revenue by 35 percent YoY to $1.19 billion during the quarter.
Company’s chief financial officer (CFO) Suresh Senapaty said the performance on profitability proved the resilience of its business model, as evident from improved realisations and superior management of its key operating parameters such as offshore mix and better utilisation.
“The robust performance enabled us to not only mitigate the adverse impact of increase in offshore wages, but also increase the operating margin by 80 basis points YoY,” Senapaty noted.
The company declared an interim dividend of Rs.2 per share/ADS (American Depositary Share) for the first six months of this fiscal on account of all-round growth in its group’s businesses, including consumer care and lighting.
The global IT services and products business added 59 new clients during the quarter. The clients include six Global 500/Fortune 1000 firms, 26 technology firms and 33 from the enterprise class.