HCL Tech March quarter numbers fail to cheer market

Company net profit grows 3.6 % y-o-y, trails analysts' estimates

HCL Technologies, India’s fourth largest IT services company, on Tuesday reported 3.6% increase its net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2015, lagging the street’s estimates in a seasonally weak quarter. 

The net profit of the company for the period stood at Rs 1,683 crore, below the analysts’ estimate of Rs 1,815 crore as complied by Thomson Reuters.

The consolidated revenues during the quarter stood at Rs 9,267 crore, a growth of 11% as compared with the year-ago period. On a sequential quarter basis, the net profit declined 12.2% while the revenue was flat.

During the quarter, the Noida-based company reported a foreign exchange loss of Rs 142 crore as against a forex gain of Rs 15 crore in the previous quarter, which also adversely impacted the net profit. However, the company improved its operating profit margin by 80 basis points to 24.6%.

In dollar terms, the net profit at $270 million grew 2.3% on y-o-y basis while sequentially it declined 12.1%. The revenues at $1,491 million grew 9.5% while it was flat on quarter-on-quarter basis.

“HCL continues to deliver broad-based growth across geographies, verticals and horizontals. This quarter saw our revenue increase by 14.4% LTM (last twelve months) YoY in constant currency and we gained significant market share fuelled by transformational deal bookings in excess of $1 billion,” said Anant Gupta, President & CEO, HCL Technologies Ltd. 

“These engagements were primarily driven from industries like consumer services, manufacturing and public services and the European region,” he added.

In the quarter under review, HCL Technologies increased the number of clients which contribute annual revenues in excess of $50 million and $30 million by one each. The number of its $100 million plus clients also grew by one to seven in the March quarter. The company added 3,944 employees during the quarter on a net basis, which took the overall headcount to 1,04,184.

“The operating margin metrics and enhanced working capital requirements have impacted our cash flows and are an outcome of our focused investment agenda for enhancing capability,” said Anil Chanana, CFO, HCL Technologies.

The company’s stock was under pressure following its quarterly earnings as it was trading around 4.67% down on the BSE at Rs 880.