Wipro to kick-start IT earnings season on April 15 with Q4 results

IT services major Wipro will kick-start earnings season for the IT industry next week. This had so far been done by its larger peers — Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys.

While Wipro will announce its fourth quarter (Q4) results along with annual financial statements on April 15, market leader TCS will hold its board meet the next day (April 16) for approval of its financial statements. Infosys is yet to inform investors the date it will announce its Q4 earnings.

Though making Q4 results public before its competitors doesn’t hold much significance, sources said Wipro is likely to announce the name of its new chief executive officer (CEO) after the resignation of Abidali Neemuchwala. In the first week of February, Neemuchwala had resigned from the firm, citing family commitments.  “Amid the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, it is important to have a clear leadership roadmap. So, it is likely that Wipro will announce its new CEO’s name with the results,” said an IT outsourcing advisor who is familiar with the development.

Names of Bhaskar Ghosh, group CEO of Accenture; former Accenture executive Omar Abbosh; and Ravi Kumar S, deputy COO and president at Infosys, are being floated as the likely successor of Neemuchwala.

Most domestic IT biggies are likely to post revenue and profit growth in their guided range despite Covid-19 impacting their business operations adversely in March.

“Wipro’s revenue was expected to improve across business segments, barring hi-tech and health care. But that view now needs to be recalibrated in the aftermath of Covid-19,” ICICI Securities has said in a recent note. “The firm will see obvious impacts of Covid-19 on growth in FY21, given its higher exposure than peers to segments like oil & gas and regions like the Middle East,” it said.

Among global IT biggies, Cognizant has already withdrawn its annual revenue guidance for 2020 in light of the coronavirus-induced global crisis and the resultant uncertainty in business outlook.

Earlier, Accenture had also slashed its revenue guidance for the year, citing the pandemic as one of the key reasons.

Global technology research firm ISG has predicted that IT services vendors are not only going to face delay in decision making from clients but these companies are also expected to witness severe pricing pressure in the coming days.

         What to expect

• While TCS will announce Q4 earnings on Apr 16, Infosys is yet to announce a date
• Most IT firms likely to post revenue and profit growth in their guided range despite Covid-19 crisis
• Many may refrain from giving guidance for FY21 due to uncertain business environment