Birlasoft second quarter net profit surges 49.2% to Rs 103.1 cr

IT firm Birlasoft on Tuesday reported a 49.2 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 103.1 crore for the September 2021 quarter.

The company had posted a profit of Rs 69.1 crore in the July-September 2020 period, Birlasoft said in a regulatory filing.

Revenue from operations grew 18 per cent to Rs 1,011.7 crore in the period under review from Rs 857.5 crore a year ago.

"Our laser-sharp focus on operational rigour and disciplined execution has led to the highest utilisation till date at 85.8 per cent. With an increased demand for key skill sets spurred by business growth, our headcount has grown by 20 per cent year-on-year," Birlasoft Managing Director and CEO Dharmender Kapoor told PTI.

This quarter, Birlasoft has completed a salary increase for all employees, making it the second hike in this calendar year, he added.

The Board has declared an interim dividend of Rs 1.50 per share, in line with its commitment towards enhancing shareholder value, he noted.

Kapoor said with a surge in market demand, the company is witnessing an increased momentum in net new deals.

"Our top customers have grown over 20 per cent year-on-year...This quarter, we have seen broad-based growth and traction across all our industry verticals and service lines, and we believe this will continue to grow in the ensuing quarters," he added.

Birlasoft signed deals of TCV (total contract value) USD 140 million during the quarter. New deal wins stood at TCV of USD 104 million in the said quarter. Its active client count stood at 280.

The company's headcount stood at 12,065 as of September 30, 2021, versus 11,508 in June 2021 quarter. The company added 557 professionals on a sequential basis and 2,055 on a year-on-year basis.

Kapoor said while attrition is an industry-wide phenomenon, the company is mitigating the situation by strengthening the talent supply side by priming for skill-volume fulfilment, keeping visa and travel-ready workforce on tap for cross-border engagements, ring-fencing critical talent, and working with key customers for account level retention initiatives.

"At an organisation level, we are strengthening our skill up-gradation programmes. While there is a deep focus on internal fulfilment and providing growth opportunities to our high potential employees, we will continue to hire best-of-breed talent from the marketplace to complement our internal skill pool and capabilities," he added.

Kapoor also said the company will look to hire a decent number of entry-level engineers to build its talent supply side.

"Overall, it would be fair to assume a 15 per cent to 20 per cent headcount growth year-on-year during this financial year," he added.

In dollar terms, the company's net profit grew 49.8 per cent to USD 14 million, while revenue was up 18.4 per cent to USD 136.9 million in September 2021 quarter from the year-ago period.

The results were announced after the close of trading hours. Shares of the company settled at Rs 400.45 apiece, up marginally from the previous close on BSE.