Wipro, India's third-largest IT software services exporter, reported 5.7 percent fall in December quarter (Q3) net profit to Rs 2,109.6 crore while IT revenues rose 3.5 percent to $1,902.8 million. The Bengaluru-based firm gave IT revenue guidance of $1,922-1,944 million for March quarter (Q4).
Read: Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech likely to outperform Infosys, TCS and Wipro in revenue growth
The Azim Premji-controlled company had reported net profit of Rs 2,070 crore in the corresponding quarter (December 2015) last fiscal while IT revenues stood at $1,838.3 million. However, on a sequential basis, IT revenue fell from $1,916 million in September quarter.
The IT revenue segment's margin rose to 18.3 percent in Q3 from 17.8 percent in September quarter. "We expanded operating margins by 50 basis points in a seasonally weak quarter and generated strong operating cash flows by disciplined execution. We are significantly leveraging HOLMES, our automation suite to drive efficiencies in our operations," Jatin Dalal, Chief Financial Officer, said.
Total income in Q3 came at Rs 13,764 crore in comparison to Rs 12,952 crore in the year-ago period, according to regulatory filings by the firm to the BSE on Wednesday after trading hours.
"Our bold investments in Digital, BPaaS and cloud applications position Wipro as the partner of choice for the Digital businesses of our clients. Digital eco-system grew by 9.9% sequentially in the quarter and now constitutes 21.7% of our revenues," Abidali Z Neemuchwala, Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board, in the filing.
Interim dividend
Wipro declared an interim dividend of Rs 2 per equity share of par value Rs 2 each and fixed the record date as February 3, 2017.
Employee count
Wipro added 4,891 employees during the December 2016 quarter to take the total headcount to 1,79,129 employees.
Cash balance
The company's cash balance at the end of December 2016 was Rs 33,155 crore, or 4.9 billion.
Share price
The Wipro stock closed 1.59 percent lower at Rs 473 on the BSE on Wednesday.
Acquisition
Wipro announced buying InfoSERVER S.A., a Brazilian IT service provider, for $8.7 million.
