Wipro posts PAT of Rs 620 crore for Q1

Bangalore, July 19: IT major Wipro Limited today posted a Profit After Tax (PAT) of Rs 620 crore, a 45 per cent increase year on year (YoY), for the quarter ended June 30 as against Rs 428 crore registered during the corresponding period the previous year.

Announcing its first quarter results, approved by the Board of Directors, here, the company said its revenue in Global IT business grew 42 per cent to Rs 245 crore as against Rs 173 crore during the corresponding period the previous year.

Commenting on the results, Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said ''The results for the quarter were quite satisfying; we enhanced our strategic investments to sustain long term growth even as we continued solid execution leading to improvements in operating performance.

''Our Global IT Services business continued to witness broad based growth, across Verticals, Geographies and Service lines. The external environment remains buoyant - we see Offshoring at the center-stage of IT Strategy of Global Corporations. In these exciting times, we are well-positioned to benefit from our diversified service portfolio and deep industry expertise.'' Giving the company's outlook for the Quarter ending September 30, 2006, Company Chief Financial Officer Suresh Senapaty said ''We expect Revenue from our Global IT services business to be approximately US Dollar 577 million.'' During the quarter the company had added 62 new customers, including eight Fortune 1000 or Global 500 companies. This included 24 customers in Technology business, 36 in Enterprise business and two in BPO business.

The company's headcount at the end of the quarter was 56,435, including 40,496 employees in IT Services business and 15,939 employees in BPO business. Compared to the quarter ended March 31, 2006, this represented a net addition of 2,693 employees which included additional 409 employees from completed acquisitions.

Mr Senapaty said ''During the quarter, our Global IT Services Revenue at 539.3 million US Dollars was ahead of our guidance of 533 million Dollars. Revenue of Global IT Services segment included 3.2 million Dollars from Enabler, our acquisition announced and consummated during the quarter. ''Continuing strong momentum, our Financial Solutions and combined Technology Business delivered 60 per cent and 40 per cent YoY growths respectively. Among service-lines, Testing Services grew 86 per cent YoY, while our Technology Infrastructure Services grew 67 per cent YoY. On margin front, improved price realisations, higher utilisation, continued improvements in BPO profitability helped in partially offsetting the additional investments in sales and marketing and acquisition related pressures on profitability.'' The company said it had registered a total revenue of Rs 314 crore for the quarter, representing a 39 per cent increase YoY, as against Rs 226 crore during the same period the previous year.

It's global IT Services and Products reported a revenue of Rs 245 crore for the quarter, representing an increase of 42 per cent YoY and PBIT of Rs 602 crore, an increase of 45 per cent YoY.

Operating Margin for the quarter was 24.6 per cent, an increase of approximately 60 basis points over the previous year. While the company's technology business contributed 33.3 per cent of the revenue of Global IT Services, enterprise business 58.3 per cent and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services the remaining 8.4 per cent.

The company said its Global Command Center, which offered a unique delivery model for outsourced infrastructure services - won the Marico Foundation and BusinessWorld's 'Innovation for India' award, under the Business Model category last month. Also, it was the only Indian company to figure in Business Week IN 25 Champions of Innovation listing in June 2006.

During the quarter, Wipro made three acquisitions in this segment--Enabler Informatica-a Retail Solutions provider based in Europe, Saraware Oy-an Engineering and Design services provider based in Finland, and Quantech Global Services, a Mechanical Design Services firm based in US and India.

The Operating results of Enabler had been consolidated into Wipro's operating results effective June one, 2006 resulting in additional revenue of Rs 149 million and PBIT of Rs 27 million.

Saraware Oy has been consolidated into Wipro's operating results with effect from June 30, 2006.

The company said its Global IT Services and Products accounted for 78 per cent of the total Revenue and 90 per cent of the PBIT for the quarter.

UNI