HCL Tech Q1 profit up 32.3%; sees growth from US, Europe

Backed by strong growth in its US and European business, India's fourth largest software services provider HCL Technologies today posted 32.3 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 1,873 crore for the first quarter ended September 30, 2014-15.
The Noida-based company had posted net profit of Rs 1,416 crore in the year-ago period.
The firm follows July-June as its financial year.
Its consolidated revenues grew 9.7 per cent at Rs 8,735 crore in Q1, 2014-15 as against Rs 7,961 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal.
However, the company's scrip tanked over 9 per cent to Rs 1,505.55 apiece as the results were below market expectations. The shares had opened 7.50 per cent lower on the BSE.

"HCLT's results were below estimates. Revenues disappointed with a Constant Currency growth of 3.2 per cent. EBIDTA margins also came in slightly below expectations," Kotak Securities Head Private Client Group Research Dipen Shah said.

In dollar terms, net profits rose by 36.1 per cent to USD 307.2 million in Q1, as against USD 225.6 million in the year- ago period.
Revenues rose by 12.8 per cent to USD 1.43 billion, as against USD 1.27 billion in Q1, 2013-14.
"We have posted another healthy quarter of broad-based growth. We saw revenues from Americas growing 5.7 per cent quarter-on-quarter, while engineering and R&D services grew 8.1 per cent," HCL Technologies CEO Anant Gupta told reporters here.

Customer acquisition momentum also continues to be strong with yet another billion dollar quarter, he added.
On year-on-year basis, Americas revenues grew 11.1 per cent, while that from Europe was up 20.8 per cent. It said that in the coming quarters, strong growth will continue to come from the two geographies which account for over 80 per cent of the company's turnover.
"Going forward, our investments will continue in the three strategic markets of IT outsourcing, engineering services outsourcing and the emerging digitalisation space which will enable a continued balanced business portfolio performance for the company," Gupta said.
HCL Technologies added 11,631 employees (gross) during the September quarter taking the total headcount to 95,522.

The company also gave wage hike to the tune of 2-3 per cent onsite and 5-7 per cent offsite during the quarter, which had a 80 basis points impact.
"There will be a further impact of about 130 bps in the next quarter as the total impact of the wage hike kicks in," HCL Technologies CFO Anil Chanana said.
It signed 15 transformational engagements with more than USD 1 billion of Total Contract Value in this quarter.