KPIT Tech reports marginal rise to Rs 42.9 crore in December quarter

Auto industry-focused IT firm KPIT Technologies on Thursday reported a marginal rise in December quarter net at Rs 42.9 crore as against Rs 40.9 crore in the year-ago period.

Its performance on both revenue and profit front showed a significant improvement if compared with the preceding September quarter, when the impact of the pandemic was highest, its co-founder and chief executive Kishor Patil told PTI.

The overall revenues for the reporting quarter came at Rs 517 crore, as against Rs 485 crore in the September 2020 quarter and Rs 550 crore in the year-ago period.

The operating profit margin expanded to 15.7 per cent as against 14.3 per cent in the preceding quarter, and 13.4 per cent in the three months to December 2019.

Patil said the margins were up because of productivity gains, higher operational efficiencies and revenue growth.

The company also downsized its human resources, and closed the quarter with a headcount of 6,152 employees as against 7,303 in the year-ago period and 6,630 in the September quarter.

Patil said KPIT has cut the "bottom blocks" earlier than normal, leading to the cut in the overall employee base. He said it will be hiring up to 700 freshers from campuses over the next two quarters.

Armed with a net cash of over Rs 620 crore, the company is looking at a few niche acquisitions at present and will also look at increasing the payout to shareholders over the future, Patil said.

He, however, added that things are not completely back to normal for the company because of the troubles faced by the auto sector, but expressed satisfaction with its performance.

Its revenues for the second half of the ongoing fiscal will be better than the same for the first half, Patil said, adding the operating profits will also show a similar trend.

The KPIT scrip closed 2.50 er cent down at Rs 132.85 on the BSE, as against 1.13 per cent correction on the benchmark on Thursday.