October 10, 2002 | 1040 IST
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
Home >
Money > Reuters > Report October 10, 2002 | 1040 IST |
Feedback
|
|
|
Infosys meets Q2 net, raises revenue outlook
India's No 2 software exporter Infosys Technologies Ltd met market expectations on Thursday with a 12 per cent on year rise in earnings for the past quarter, helped by improving sales, which grew more than 35 per cent. Riding on growing outsourcing business, the Nasdaq-listed firm raised its full year forecast for income from software services and products to Rs 3433-Rs3467 crore (Rs 34.33-34.67 billion) from the earlier guidance of Rs 3108-3195 crore (Rs 31.08-31.95 billion). "We have increased our guidance for fiscal 2003 despite a very challenging economic environment...(as) increased acceptance of the offshore outsourcing model has accelerated the revenue growth beyond our own internal projections," Infosys's chief executive Nandan Nilekani said in a statement. But it retained earnings per share forecast at Rs 142-145 for the full year. Infosys said second-quarter profit rose to Rs 226 crore (Rs 2.26 billion) or Rs 33.9 per share on diluted basis from Rs 202 crore (Rs 2.02 billion) or Rs 30.39 per share a year ago. Total income increased to Rs 879 crore (Rs 8.79 billion) from Rs 650 crore (Rs 6.5 billion). A Reuters poll forecast a median net profit of Rs 229 crore (Rs 2.29 billion) and net sales of Rs 802 crore (Rs 8.02 billion). Traders said the earnings would have been higher but for a charge of Rs 23.76 crore (Rs 237.6 million) as provision for investments. "The sales growth is pretty mind boggling," said Pramod Gupta, analyst with Enam Securities. "I must say the bottomline growth is very good after adjusting for the one-time charge for the write-offs". The Bangalore-listed Infosys, which usually delivers more than it promises, had forecast revenue at Rs 762-Rs781 crore (Rs 7.62 to Rs 7.81 billion) for the September quarter. It had estimated earnings per share at Rs 33-34. Infosys said it expects software income in October-December to be in the range of Rs 890-904 crore (Rs 8.9-9.04 billion). It projected earnings per share at Rs 37-38 in the third quarter. The firm added a net of 1,806 employees during the quarter, far higher than expected and compared to 566 people added in the previous quarter. It has more than 11,000 employees, mostly based in India. Infosys added 18 new clients during the quarter. The company, which serves about 300 clients, including Citigroup and ING Group had earlier said that it was looking at signing bigger contracts and focusing on key clients. Infosys' stock has gained about 10 per cent in the past two months in line with a sectoral rally as the industry drew investors who became disillusioned by a delay in privatisation. ALSO READ:
|
ADVERTISEMENT |
||||||||||||||
