Wipro Q2 Net up 28 pc; revenue growth lags rivals

Posting better-than-expected earnings, India's third largest IT exporter Wipro today reported a 28 per cent growth in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ended September 30, aided by currency depreciation and an uptick in client spending.
The city-headquartered firm posted a net profit from continuing operations of Rs 1,932.1 crore for the second quarter against Rs 1,510.5 crore in the year-ago period.
Registering its highest growth in the last 7 quarters, consolidated revenues rose by 19 per cent to Rs 10,990.7 crore in the July-September quarter this fiscal from Rs 9,235 crore in the same quarter of 2012-13 fiscal.

Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said: "There are positive indicators on the global economy. Client confidence is on the uptick and we see it reflected in our results."
In US dollars, Wipro's net profit stood at USD 309 million in the second quarter this fiscal, while consolidated revenues were at USD 1.76 billion during the quarter.
IT services revenue rose 20 per cent to Rs 10,068 crore in the second quarter. In US dollars, IT revenues rose 5.9 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to USD 1.63 billion, whereas, sequential growth stood at 2.7 per cent.

Wipro, which does not give annual forecasts, had guided to USD 1.62-1.65 billion IT service revenue in second quarter.

"We have had the highest revenue growth over the last 7 quarters. All our verticals have grown sequentially in Q2. We have likewise seen broad based growth across customers," Wipro Ltd CEO T K Kurien told reporters here.
However, analysts said Wipro's sequential revenue growth lagged peers. TCS revenue sequentially rose 5.4 per cent in US dollar terms, Infosys 3.8 per cent and HCL 3.5 per, while, Wipro's IT revenues grew 2.7 per cent.
"The growth was lower than reported by peers...," said Kotak Securities Head PCG Research Dipen Shah.
However, in rupee terms, Wipro's revenue from operations rose quarter-on-quarter by 12.91 per cent.

Shares of Wipro today closed at Rs 514.90 apiece, up 1.67 per cent from their previous close at BSE.