Wipro net up 58% YoY at Rs 1629 crores

Wipro Limited on Friday announced its audited results approved by the Board of Directors for the quarter and year ended March 2005.

Highlights

Results for the year ended March 31, 2005

• Profit before interest and tax grew by 63 per cent year on year to Rs 1,815 crores (Rs 18.15 billion); revenue for the year was Rs 8,170 crores (Rs 81.7 billion), an increase of 39% YoY.
• Profit after tax grew by 58 per cent YoY to Rs 1,629 crores (Rs 16.29 billion)
• Global IT services and products PBIT was Rs 1,604 crores (Rs 16.04 billion), an increase of 68 per cent YoY;
• Global IT services and products revenue increased 39 per cent YoY, at Rs 6,075 crores (Rs 60.75 billion)
• India, Asia Pac & Middle East IT services and products revenues grew by 43 per cent YoY; PBIT growth was 32 per cent
• Board of Directors recommends issue of bonus shares to shareholders (including to ADS holders) in the ratio of one additional share for every one share held subject to shareholder approval in the Annual General Meeting scheduled in July 2005
• Board of Directors also recommends a cash dividend of Rs 5 per share/ADS on existing paid-up capital (equivalent of Rs 2.5 per share on the expanded capital), subject to shareholder approval

Results for the quarter ended March 31, 2005

• Profit after tax was Rs 433 crores (Rs 4.33 billion)
• Global IT services and products PBIT increased to Rs 415 crores (Rs 4.15 billion)
• Global IT services and products revenue was Rs 1,641 crores (Rs 16.41 billion), primarily contributed by volume growth
• Global IT services and products operating margin was 25 per cent, despite rupee appreciation
• Global IT Sesvices and products added 41 new clients in the quarter

Outlook for the quarter ending June 30, 2005

Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro said, "Wipro recorded yet another year of very good performance. The results of Wipro Limited once again reflect the passion of Wiproites' for facing challenges and triumphing over them. During the year, our Global IT business posted healthy growth in revenues, expanded operating margin and virtually improved all operating parameters.

"Coupled with robust performance by other businesses as well, we reported a strong growth in our profit after tax. Considering the emerging opportunities in the global market and our unique business model, the future outlook looks as exciting as journey has been so far.

"Looking ahead, for the quarter ending June 2005, we expect our revenue from Global IT services business to be approximately $395 million."

Vivek Paul, vice chairman, said, "The last quarter witnessed continued customer confidence in our wide portfolio of service lines. Strong sequential volume growth of 8.5 per cent led to the highest ever addition in billed man-months in a quarter.

"We saw healthy growth in the number of new customers as well as the deepening of our presence in existing customers, as we saw growth in the number of customer with revenue run rates greater than $1 million, $3 million, $10 million and $20 million annualized.

"In terms of 2 verticals, telecom OEM and finance solutions sustained their momentum, while embedded systems and product engineering bounced back with a decent sequential growth. Our differentiated testing services continued to grow ahead of our overall growth rates. This broad -based growth resulted in revenues of $375 million, ahead of our guidance of $370 million."

Suresh Senapaty, corporate executive vice president (finance) said, "We were able to significantly offset the pressure on Operating Margins arising from currency appreciation and decrease in price realisations through improvement in utilisation, increased proportion of offshore projects and continued operational improvements."