KPIT Q4 net profit rises 41.5 pc to Rs 76 cr

IT firm KPIT today said its consolidated net profit rose 41.5 per cent to Rs 76 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2018.

This is against a net profit of Rs 53.6 crore in the year-ago period, KPIT said in a BSE filing.

The company's revenue from operations surged 12.5 per cent to Rs 966.43 crore in the reported period from Rs 858.46 crore in the same quarter a year ago, it added.

For the 2017-18 fiscal, KPIT posted 6.02 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 252.85 crore, while revenue from operations was up 10.3 per cent to Rs 3,665.58 crore as compared to 2016-17.

"We are back to industry leading growth, with FY18 registering a healthy growth of about 15 per cent. We have seen reassuring margin improvement in Business IT during the year. We expect to register a growth of 8-10 per cent in USD revenues for FY19 with operational EBITDA margins in the range of 11.5-12.5 per cent," KPIT CEO and MD Kishor Patil said.

The company's dollar revenue for the quarter stood at USD 150.2 million (up 17.1 per cent year-on-year).

Earlier in the year, KPIT had announced a transaction of merger and demerger involving KPIT and Birlasoft. The merger of KPIT and Birlasoft is expected to create an over USD 700 million entity that will be demerged into two separate companies.

One of these -- KPIT Technologies -- will focus on automotive engineering and mobility solutions, while Birlasoft will look after the digital business IT services.

"We have almost completed all the regulatory requirements of the mandatory open offer in KPIT pursuant to the above transaction. We are currently in the process of various regulatory filings required for the transaction to get completed and we believe we are on track for the same," the company said.

KPIT also noted that a California jury had delivered a verdict in a lawsuit that has been pending for over four years in a US District Court involving various claims brought by Copart, Inc. against Sparta Consulting and KPIT entities.

"While we do not yet have a copy of the jury's written decision, what we understand from the oral proceedings in court yesterday is that the jury awarded damages to both Sparta and Copart with respect to their respective claims," KPIT said.

It further said: "We understand the net result is an amount owing to Copart, Inc. approximately USD 16 million. The court set a further hearing on July 13, 2018, at which time the parties' respective motions regarding the jury's decision will be considered".

KPIT said after those motions are heard and considered, the court will issue its final written judgment.

"Even before the jury issued its verdict, the court had previously ruled that any direct claims against KPIT Technologies Ltd. should be dismissed as a matter of law. Sparta and KPIT Infosystems continue to vigorously deny any and all wrongdoing, and will continue to explore all possible challenges to the verdict," it said.