Infosys Q3 net at Rs 2,369 cr; higher rev guidance cheers mkt

Net profit at Rs 2,369 crore in October-December was marginally lower than Rs 2,372 crore logged in the same period a year ago, but higher the market expectations.

That prompted Infosys to raise its sales forecast by about 3 per cent to Rs 40,746 crore, including USD 104 million in additional revenue following the acquisition of Switzerland -based consultancy Lodestone Holdings.

The company signed eight large outsourcing deals worth USD 731 million in the quarter and has a "strong pipeline of large deals" and is "cautiously optimistic" about the current quarter, Infosys Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director SD Shibulal told reporters here.

Infosys scrip jumped as much as 16 per cent, the biggest advance since it began trading in 1993. It was the largest gainer on the BSE India Sensitive Index, followed by competitors Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services.

In the October-December quarter, revenues (including that of acquired Swiss firm Lodestone) were up 12.1 per cent to Rs 10,424 crore.

Revenues stood at Rs 9,298 crore in the year-ago period.

"We have done well in this quarter despite an uncertain environment," Shibulal said, adding that client addition has been one of the highest in the last few quarters.

The net addition was 25 clients which excludes Lodestone.

In dollar terms, profit dipped by 5.2 per cent to USD 434 million in the reported quarter, but revenues were up by 5.8 per cent to USD 1,911 million in the quarter under review.

The company has raised its sales forecast for FY'13 to be "at least USD 7.45 billion" (from USD 7.34 billion stated earlier), including USD 104 million in additional revenue from Lodestone. This is about 6.5 per cent growth over last year. MORE