Persistent Systems Q2 Net up 36% at Rs 60.79 cr

Software services firm Persistent Systems today reported a 36% increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 60.79 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2013, helped by currency depreciation and growth in its (intellectual property) IP-led business.

The Pune-based firm had posted a net profit of Rs 44.65 crore in the year-ago period.

Consolidated revenues for the July-September quarter this fiscal rose by 32% to Rs 432.37 crore from Rs 326.86 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

"We have had outstanding results in the second quarter helped by our IP-led business and the depreciation in Indian rupee against the US dollar, which helped our margins by 270 basis points," Persistent Systems Chairman and CEO Anand Deshpande told PTI.

IP-led revenue for the quarter was at $13.10 million as against $9.49 million for previous quarter, a Q-o-Q growth of 38%, he added.

In dollar terms, it posted revenue of $68.45 million, representing year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth of 14% and quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) growth of 8.6%, he said.

"We focused our strategy around product engineering, enterprise platform approach and product IP, which has enabled the company to grow and scale up resulting in new business opportunities with leading enterprises," Deshpande added.

Region-wise, North Americas led by the US accounted for 84.64% of the revenues.

Persistent had a forex loss of Rs 10 crore during the quarter under review.

It added 313 employees during the July-September quarter taking its total headcount to 7,457 as of September 30, 2013.

"We expect to hire 600 people by the end of this fiscal, which will increase our headcount to over 8,000," Deshpande said.

The firm added 36 new clients in its services side during the second quarter taking the total customer base to 243, while, the IP-led business has a total client base of 388.

Going forward, Deshpande said the firm will continue to invest in creating next-generation technology solutions for its customers.

During the quarter, Persistent has expanded in EMEA, APAC and has opened its Collaborative Software Development Centre in Ohio (the US).