Mphasis consolidated net profit up by 54 pc

Bangalore, Nov 1: The MphasiS BFL Group today announced consolidated net profit of Rs 23.4 crore for the quarter ended 30 September 2006, up by 54 per cent compared to a net profit of Rs 15.2 crore earned during the corresponding period last year.

The operating profit for the current quarter had almost doubled to Rs 32.8 crore when compared with the previous sequential quarter ended 30 June 2006 the Company said in a release here.

Consolidated revenues at Rs 291.9 crore in the current quarter had increased by 28 per cent over the same quarter last year. During the same period net profit declined by 42 per cent from Rs 40.2 crore to Rs 23.4 crore. This included a forex loss of Rs 6.9 crore and a tax charge of Rs 3.9 crore in the quarter ended 30 September 2006 as against forex gain of Rs 4.0 crore and tax charge of Rs 0.9 crore in the quarter ended 30 September 2005.

This also includes a provision for staff retention which will continue over the next five quarters.

Commenting on the results Mr Jerry Rao, CEO and Chairman designate of the company said ''We have crossed the Rs 500 crore mark in revenues in 6 months this year. We have added more than 1300 people this quarter to take our headcount past the 12,000 mark.

While year on year revenue growth is back on track, we are still some ways from getting back to historical margin trajectories. If we continue with improvements, I am quite confident that this too will fall in place. Business from EDS has started flowing and the integration with EDS India is progressing well''.

During the quarter the Group added eleven new clients, ten in software services and one in BPO. They included a global media conglomerate, a healthcare services firm, a management services company in the UK , a leader in optical sensing solutions and a electronic vending machine manufacturer in the software services business and a global banking giant in BPO.

Referring to the EDS announcement on October 19 of its intention to make a voluntary open offer for approximately 32.95 million shares of MphasiS BFL Limited the release said the MphasiS board at its meeting duly noted the same. The offer was slated to open on November 27 2006 and close on December 28, 2006.

UNI