Patni FY08 net dips 9%, declares 150% dividend

Patni Computer Systems today reported a 9.44 per cent dip in consolidated net profit at Rs 438.01 crore for its financial year ended December 31, 2008.

The company had a consolidated net of Rs 483.63 crore in the last fiscal, Patni Computer Services said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

However, consolidated total income of the IT firm rose to Rs 3,247.61 crore in FY'08 from Rs 2,775.03 crore of FY'07.

"The effect of the global meltdown has been more than expected for everyone and this is impacting our business in the short run."

"However, our global delivery model will strengthen further in these tough times and we will remain bullish in our long-term strategy and are making prudent investments in our business," Patni Computer Chairman and CEO Narendra K Patni said.

On a standalone basis, the company posted a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 389.15 crore in the latest fiscal, a nominal growth compared to Rs 387.52 crore of last year.

Meanwhile, in Q4 ended December 31, Patni posted a PAT of Rs 68.66 crore against Rs 85.90 crore, a 20.06 per cent dip over the same quarter last year.

Patni also announced a dividend of 150 per cent, or Rs 3 per share, for the year 2008.

"The current financial crisis has an adverse impact on our revenue and we see this to continue in the near term. There is pressure both on prices and volumes."

"We, however, still believe global outsourcing will rise as the current dust settles. We continue to work very closely with our customers in these tough times and remain positive of our mid to long-term prospects," Patni Computer Systems Executive Director Loek van den Boog said.

On future outlook, Patni Computer said the first quarter of calendar year 2009 revenues are expected to be $154-155 million.

"Net income is expected to be in the range of $13.5-14.5 million," the company said.

In another development, Patni Computer today said Jeya Kumar will replace N K Patni as the new CEO of the company. N K Patni, however, would continue to be the Chairman.

Further, the board has also accepted the resignation ofLouis Theodoor van den Boog as an Executive Director. However, he will continue as a non-executive director.