NIIT Tech Q4 net up 14 pc; declares 60 pc dividend

New Delhi, June 26 (UNI) Software services provider NIIT Technologies Ltd today said its net profit rose by 14 per cent at Rs 19.2 crore during the Q4 of 2005-2006 as against Rs 16.9 crore in the corresponding period last year, besides announcing a dividend of 60 per cent on every equity share.

NIIT Tech's consolidated revenues for the last quarter stood at Rs 166.2 crore as against Rs 137.1 crore in the same period last year, up by 21 per cent.

The company reported an annual net profit of 13 per cent at Rs 66.3 crore for the year ending March 31,2006 as compared to Rs 58.5 crore in 2004-05.

The revenues for 2005-06 showed a rise of 12 per cent at Rs 607.5 crore from Rs 543.2 crore in 2004-05.

''We aim to be leaders in the three business areas we are focussed in -- travel and transport, financial services, including insurance, and retail and manufacturing,'' NIIT Tech Chief Executive Officer Arvind Thakur told reporters here.

The company's operating profit margin went up to 20 per cent during Q4 from 18 per cent a year ago as the business process outsourcing division broke even in the fourth quarter, Mr Thakur said.

''We see a significant growth engine for the company in the areas of information technology (IT) operations and remote infrastructure management services,'' he said.

NIIT Tech Chairman Rajendra S Pawar added that the company is setting up a 20-acre software development center at Greater Noida, near the national capital, for which the land has already been acquired, and the first phase of the proposed campus will be through in the next two years.

The new campus will have a capacity to house 10,000 people annually and 3,500 in its first phase. ''We will invest about Rs 100 crore in the first phase,'' Mr Pawar said.

NIIT Technologies added five new customers and obtained fresh business worth 31 million dollars from them. The company's order book stood at 76 million dollars at the end of the financial year.

The company added 253 people during the last quarter to take the total strength of NIIT Tech to 3543, crossing the 3,500 mark.

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