Infosys Q4 net grows 16.2% to Rs 3,597 crore

Revenue rose 23.4 per cent to Rs 1,655 crore

India's second-largest software services major Infosys on Friday reported a 16.2 per cent growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 3,597 crore (Rs 35.97 billion) for the quarter ended March 31, 2016.

It had posted a net profit of Rs 3,097 crore (Rs 30.97 billion) in January-March of 2014-15, Infosys said in a BSE filing.

Revenue of the Bengaluru-based firm grew 23.4 per cent to Rs 16,550 crore (Rs 165.5 billion) in the March quarter compared with Rs 13,411 crore (Rs 134.11 billion) in the same quarter of 2014-15, it added.

On a sequential basis, Infosys' net profit rose 3.8 per cent from Rs 3,465 crore (Rs 34.65 billion) in the October-December quarter while revenue was up 4.1 per cent from Rs 15,902 crore (Rs 159.02 billion) during the same period.

Infosys managing director and CEO Vishal Sikka said: "Over the course of this year, we saw this strategy of bringing automation and innovation to our clients, on a foundation of learning and education, start to show results in the organic growth of our client relationships, in our win rates in large deals, and in the types of projects we are seeing in strategic areas where we never participated before."

In US dollars, Infosys net profit grew 7 per cent to $533 million in the March quarter from $498 million in the year-ago period while revenues rose 13.3 per cent to $2.44 billion from $2.15 billion a year ago.

For 2015-16, profit was up 1.9 per cent at $2.05 billion while revenues grew 9.1 per cent to $9.5 billion.

Infosys said it expects revenue for 2016-17 to grow in the range of 11.5-13.5 per cent in constant currency and 11.8-13.8 per cent in US dollar terms, in line with industry body Nasscom's estimate of 10-12 per cent for the fiscal.

The company said it has appointed Mohit Joshi, Ravi Kumar S and Sandeep Dadlani as presidents with effective immediate effect.

Cash and cash equivalents, available-for-sale financial assets, certificates of deposits and government bonds were Rs 34,468 crore (Rs 344.68 billion) as of March 31, 2016.

"Our growth trajectory improved in FY16 and we navigated the external business environment well. We will continue to focus on leveraging operational efficiency levers for consistent profitable growth," Infosys CFO MD Ranganath said.

During the quarter, cash generation was strong and Infosys managed a volatile currency environment effectively, he added.

Infosys said its quarterly annualised attrition rate has declined to 17.3 per cent in January-March of 2016.

For the March quarter, Infosys' total headcount stood at 194,044 as against 176,187 a year ago.

Net additions in the March quarter stood at 661 people.

"Employee attrition reduced further in Q4, and is reflective of increased engagement with our people all through the year, and our steps to make Infosys an exciting place for the world's best talent. We continue to reimagine our internal processes to increase organisational agility," Infosys COO U B Pravin Rao said.

The momentum of large deal wins continued this quarter and bookings were strong, he added.

Infosys Board has recommended a final dividend of Rs 14.25 per equity share for the financial year ended March 2016.

In fiscal 2016, over Rs 216 crore ($33 million) contributed by Infosys was utilised across projects related to healthcare, education, culture, destitute care and rural development, it said.

In addition, the company has spent Rs 86 crore ($13 million) crore on multiple initiatives including Chennai flood disaster relief, environment sustainability and conservation of natural resources aimed at long-term sustainability of ecosystem.

Photograph: Reuters