Wipro Q3 Net up 27 per cent; expects Q4 IT revenue at $1.71-1.75 billion

Bangalore: IT services major Wipro on Friday posted a 27 per cent jump in net profit, in line with market expectations, for the quarter ended December 31, helped by strong growth in infrastructure services, client spending and improved efficiencies.

The city-headquartered firm posted a net profit of Rs 2,010 crore in the December quarter against Rs 1,589 crore in the year-ago period.

Consolidated revenue rose by 18 per cent to Rs 11,330 crore from Rs 9,589 crore.

Commenting on the performance, Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said: "As the global economy is progressing towards stability, we see optimism amongst clients, especially in the West."

Corporations are leveraging technology to reduce operational costs and investing resources in differentiating themselves in the marketplace, he added.

Wipro's IT services revenue stood at USD 1.67 billion (Rs 10,330 crore), a y-o-y rise of 6.4 per cent in dollar terms.

"During the quarter, our Global Infrastructure Services business grew strongly on revenues," Wipro CEO T K Kurien said.

Talking to reporters after earnings, Kurien said: "We are very happy with the results, having said that, there is lot of work to be done because we have to get to secular growth rate of 4-4.5 per cent (quarter on quarter) and that's when we say that we are comfortable and in good hope."

On revenue guidance, Wipro said it expects IT services revenues in the January-March quarter of 2013-14 fiscal to be in the range of USD 1.71-1.75 billion.

"Wipro results were almost in line with estimates and the guidance for the March quarter indicates that it has likely returned on the path of sustainable and consistent growth on the back of its account mining initiatives," said Dipen Shah, Head- Private Client Group Research, Kotak Securities.

Wipro added 42 new customers during the third quarter.

IT services segment had 146,402 employees on December 31. Wipro board declared Rs 3 per share interim dividend.