Wipro Q3 net drops 12% to Rs 19.3 bn q-o-q; IT services margin at 14.8%

However, revenue from operations rose 2% to Rs 136.69 bn as against Rs 134.23 bn in September 2017

Consolidated profit of IT major Wipro Ltd dropped 12 per cent to Rs 19.3 billion for the quarter ended December 2017 as against Rs 21.89 billion in the previous quarter.

However, revenue from operations rose 2 per cent to Rs 136.69 billion as against Rs 134.23 billion in September 2017.

The company board approved interim dividend of Rupee 1 per share.

IT services margin for the quarter was 14.8 per cent. The company expects March quarter revenues from IT services to be in the range of $2.03-$2.07 billion.

On annual basis, the net profit dropped 8.5 per cent when compared to Rs 21.1 billion in the year-ago period.

Wipro missed its revenue guidance for the third quarter as it had given a forecast of $2.014 billion to $2.054 billion.

For the March 2018 quarter, it expects revenues from IT services business to be in the range of $2,033 million to $2,073 million.

The company said its IT services margin — at 14.8 per cent — was impacted by a provision of Rs 3.17 billion ($49.7 million) made with respect to insolvency of a customer post the balance sheet date.

"Adjusted for this event, IT services margin was higher at 17.2 per cent," the filing said.

The company has declared an interim dividend of Re 1 per share.

"We continued to improve our growth trajectory driven by strong momentum in banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) and uptick in healthcare," Wipro CEO and Member of the Board Abidali Z Neemuchwala said.

This is also reflected in Wipro's outlook for the next quarter, he added.

Wipro now gets over 25 per cent of its revenues from Digital.

IT products revenue for the third quarter was Rs 4.5 billion ($70 million).

The company saw its headcount at 1,62,553 at the end of the third quarter.

On Friday, Wipro stock on BSE closed 0.74 per cent higher at Rs 328.45.