HCL Technologies, India’s fourth largest software services firm, on Tuesday, reported a 3.6 per cent increase in its net profit at Rs.1,683 for the third quarter ended March 31, 2015.
The company, which follows July-June fiscal, had posted a net profit of Rs.1,624 crore in the year-ago period.
Consolidated revenue during the period grew 11 per cent to Rs. 9,267 crore from Rs. 8,349 crore in the same period a year ago.
On a sequential basis, however, the IT major’s net profit was down 12 per cent. For the previous quarter (October-December 2014), the net profit stood at Rs.1,915 crore. The revenue, too, dipped marginally from Rs.9,283 crore as margins dropped due to currency volatility.
As the earnings were below market expectations, the company scrip closed lower by 3.48 per cent on the BSE at Rs.891.05, after plunging as much as 10 per cent in intra-day trade.
HCL Technologies reported a foreign exchange loss of Rs.142 crore for quarter under review against a forex gain of Rs.15 crore in the previous quarter, which also adversely impacted the net profit.
In dollar terms, the company’s net profit grew 2.3 per cent to $270 million, while revenue rose 9.5 per cent to $1.49 billion in January-March quarter from the year-ago period.
“HCL continues to deliver broad-based growth across geographies, verticals and horizontals. This quarter saw our revenue increase by 14.4 per cent LTM (last twelve months) Y-o-Y in constant currency and we gained significant market share fuelled by transformational deal bookings in excess of $1 billion,” said Anant Gupta, President and CEO, HCL Technologies.
Dividend
The company has announced a dividend of Rs. 4 per equity share.
Its cash and cash equivalents stood at Rs.838 crore at the end of March 31, 2015. During the quarter, the company added 11,041 people (gross) and 3,944 (net), taking its total headcount to 1,04,184 at the end of the quarter.