Infosys Q3 net up 7% at Rs 3,708 cr, hits $10 bn revenue mark

Infosys, India's second biggest software services firm, today reported a better-than-expected 7 per cent rise in the third quarter profit even as it slightly lowered the revenue guidance for the entire fiscal.
At Rs 3,708 crore, net profit for the October-December period was 7 per cent higher than Rs 3,465 crore recorded in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal.
Sequentially, the profit was up 2.8 per cent.
Revenue in rupees declined 0.2 per cent to Rs 17,273 crore, while in dollar terms it slipped 1.4 per cent to USD 2.53 billion - the first fall seven quarters - due to RBS deal cancellation and seasonal weakness. Dollar revenue growth in constant currency was down 0.3 per cent quarter-on-quarter.

Infosys revised its full year revenue guidance to 8.4-8.8 per cent from 8-9 per cent in constant currency terms. This translates into a revenue guidance to 7.2-7.6 per cent in dollar terms based on December 31 rates.
This is the third time that the company has revised its revenue guidance.

"Taking into account seasonal and other additional headwinds for the quarter, our Q3 revenue performance was broadly in line with our expectations," Infosys CEO and MD Vishal Sikka told reporters here.
Sikka also said the company had achieved the feat of reaching USD 10 billion mark in annual revenue run rate, describing it as an "emotional and psychological milestone". Sounding buoyant, Sikka said the company had performed well and is "optimistic" about the fourth quarter of the current fiscal. "Overall, I am happy with the performance in the first nine months of the year."

The company's aspirational goal now was to reach USD 20 billion revenue by 2020, he said.
The company also announced appointment of S Ravikumar as Deputy Chief Operating Officer and in additional charge would oversee certain strategic business enabling functions from India. He will report to company COO U b Bravin Rao with immediate effect.
Sikka said the appointment will provide "more bandwidth" and added that changes will continue to happen even though "there is no particular grand plan."
Ravikumar also oversees Infosys operations in Japan and is the chairman of the Board of Infosys China. On Q3 results, Sikka said, "The company did well this quarter inspite of the impact of Royal Bank of Scotland and facing traditional headwinds from less number of working days."

The cancellation of a major five-year 300 million pound RBS contract dealt a big blow to Infosys as it impacted as many as 3,000 Infosys employees and revenues for the year by about USD 40 million, Sikka said.
Shares of Infosys today fell by 2.5 per cent to Rs 975.15 on BSE, wiping out Rs 5,718.44 crore from its market valuation, due to downward revision in its forecast and concerns over US H1B visa issue.