Wipro net at Rs 357 cr

Net profit rises 73%, revenue up 48% in June quarter.

Wipro Ltd posted a 73 per cent increase in its net profit at Rs 357 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2004, compared with the corresponding period last year. Its revenue went up 48 per cent to touch Rs 1,769 crore in the same period.

The revenue from the export of IT services and products increased 45 per cent year on year at Rs 1,344 crore, contributing 76 per cent to the total revenue of the company.

The operating margin for the IT exports business increased 3.4 per cent over the quarter ended March 31, 2004, to about 27 per cent.

On a sequential basis, Wipro registered a marginal decrease of 0.95 per cent in its topline. However, its net income went up 11.3 per cent sequentially.

According to Vivek Paul, vice-chairman, Wipro Ltd, "Our global IT services and products business continued to deliver consistent business results. A sequential growth of 8.4 per cent in revenues and expansion in operating margins for the fourth consecutive quarter were primarily the results of sustained volume growth and an improvement in the pricing environment."

Paul added that growth continued to be broad-based, across domains, service lines and geographies, with revenue from European clients recording a 20 per cent sequential growth.

"With the strong first quarter result, we are confident that we will continue to outperform the industry," he added.

The company's IT services exports business added 35 new clients in the quarter, including 3 in the IT-enabled services sector. Despite the backlash against outsourcing, Wipro added 23 new clients from the US alone.

The company achieved a revenue of $300 million in its IT services and products export business for the quarter ended June 30, 2004, against the projected revenue of $292 million. It has projected a revenue of $318 million for the July-September period.

Suresh Senapaty, corporate executive vice- president - finance, said, "Improvement in the operating margins in our IT exports business was driven by better price realisation in offshore as well as onsite projects, an increase in the proportion of revenue from offshore projects, an increase in IP sales and continued operational improvements."

Senapaty added that the company was likely to see an impact of wage hike on its margins for the second quarter ending September 2004.