Wipro’s net profit up 12.5% to Rs 2,387.6 crore in Q1

Global software major Wipro on Wednesday reported Rs 2,390 crore net profit for the first quarter of FY20, registering 12.6 per cent annual growth from Rs 2,094 crore in the same period a year ago. Sequentially, net profit declined 4.2 per cent from Rs 2,494 crore a quarter ago.

In a regulatory filing on the BSE, the city-based IT behemoth said total revenue in Q1 grew by 5.3 per cent to Rs 14,720 crore from Rs 13,978 crore in Q1FY19. Sequentially, the revenue growth remained flat (0.2 per cent) from Rs 15,006 crore a quarter ago.

IT services business grew 4.3 per cent to Rs 14,189 crore for the quarter from Rs 13,841 crore a year ago, but declined 5 per cent sequentially from Rs 14,565 crore.

Under the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS), net income for the quarter was $346 million, revenue $2.14 billion and IT services $2,039 million.

Operating margin for the quarter marginally increased to 18.4 per cent from 17.6 per cent a year ago, but declined from 19 per cent a quarter ago.

For the second quarter (July-September), the company projected total revenue in the range of $2,039-2,080 million, which will be a sequential growth of 0-0.2 per cent.

"Our efforts on client mining have resulted in an addition of three customers in $100 million bucket in Q1. We will build differentiated capabilities to drive business transformation for customers by investing in our big bets," said Wipro Chief Executive Abidali Neemuchwala.

"We delivered IT services margins of 18.4 per cent and free cash flows of 99 per cent of net income. Though we had a slower start to the year, we are focused on our operations and invest in talent and capabilities for the future," said Chief Financial Officer Jatin Dalal.

The company hired 3,425 techies for the first quarter, taking the headcount to 1,74,850 from 1,71,425 a quarter ago and 1,60,846 a year ago.

The company's scrip of Rs 2 face value remained subdued on the BSE to close at Rs 259.70 on Wednesday, trading against Tuesday's closing price of Rs 260.05 and opening price of Rs 262.75.