Wipro registers muted growth

Reports 5% growth in its total revenue

India’s third-largest information technology services firm Wipro on Tuesday said its net profit registered tepid growth of 0.4% at Rs 2,267 crore for the fourth quarter ending fiscal 2017.

The net profit for the fourth quarter in the fiscal 2016 was Rs 2,257.3 crore. While on a sequential basis, net profit registered a growth of 7% at Rs 2,114.8 crore, Wipro’s profit for the fiscal registered a degrowth of 10% at Rs 8,518 crore, compared with Rs 8,957.1 crore for the same period of last fiscal.

Wipro reported 5% growth in its total revenue at Rs 15,034 crore for the fourth quarter ending March 31, 2017, compared with Rs 14,313 crore in the same period of the last fiscal.

Wipro CEO Abidali Z Neemuchwala said the company delivered revenues within the guidance range in the fourth quarter. “We are confident that the recovery in energy and utilities, and our demonstrated strength in digital will help us improve our growth trajectory during the course of the current financial year,” he said.

He pointed out that the present quarter has its own set of challenges due to uncertainty in the US healthcare industry and structural disruption in retail.  The IT company’s revenue in IT services segment in constant currency grew 1.7% quarter-on-quarter in line with guidance. “In a quarter with volatile currency, IT services segment revenue on reported US Dollar basis grew 2.7%,” said Chief Financial Officer Jatin Dalal.

Consolidated earnings per share (EPS) jumped to Rs 9.33 per share as of March 31, 2017, from Rs 8.70 as of December 31, 2016. Wipro expects its revenue from IT services business to be in the range of $1,915 million, to $1,955 million.

During the quarter, Wipro added 1,305 employees, and its quarterly annualised attrition has reduced to 14.8%, from 15.4% in Q3. Commenting on layoffs, Wipro HR head Saurabh Govil said that the company recruited 8,000 employees in the last fiscal. “We are conducting annualised appraisal and paving the way for non-performers. This is nothing new and an ongoing process,” said Govil.

It will issue bonus shares in the ratio of 1:1. It also stated that the Board will consider a proposal for buyback of equity shares around July 2017.

Wipro’s share price on Tuesday closed 0.93% up at Rs 496.35 ahead of the announcement of quarterly results.