Wipro on Friday reported consolidated revenues of Rs.7,731 crore in the second quarter ended September 30, 2010, an increase 12 per cent over the previous year. Revenues in dollar terms amounted to $1.273 billion, 19.5 per cent higher than a year ago.
The company reported a net profit of Rs.1,284.90 crore, an increase of 9.75 per cent over the previous year. The operating profit increased by 6.38 per cent on an annualised basis. Earnings per share (on a diluted basis) were Rs.4.80, compared to Rs.5.07 a year ago.
Announcing the results here, Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said “it was a decent quarter for us, and we are committed to high growth in the future. Although the macroeconomic situation remains uncertain in the U.S. we had a strong quarter in Europe and the emerging markets,” Mr. Premji said.
Revenues from IT services, which contribute about three quarters of the revenues for the company, amounted to $1.273 billion during the second quarter, 19.5 per cent higher than a year ago. Company officials admitted that margins were under pressure during the quarter, having dipped from 24 per cent in the first quarter to 22 per cent in the second quarter. Voluntary attrition was 23 per cent, compared to 10.5 per cent a year ago.
Mr. Premji said the company expected IT services revenues to be between $1.317 billion and $1.343 billion in the third quarter, a sequential increase of between 3.5 per cent and 5.5 per cent. The guidance was based on the assumption that the average rupee-dollar exchange rate would be Rs.46.31 during the quarter.
Girish S. Paranjpe, Joint Chief Executive Officer of Wipro's IT Business board member, said growth in the technology segment had been ‘somewhat disappointing.' He said growth in the telecom and manufacturing verticals was also ‘muted'. However, health care, retail, transportation and energy verticals had “done well, reporting strong volume growth,” Mr. Paranjpe said.
Referring to currency volatility, Mr. Paranjpe expressed hope that the G-20 Summit due in Seoul in November would be able “to arrive at a solution to the currency war.”
Suresh Senapty, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer, said volume growth of 6.6 per cent had been a key driver for the company in the last quarter. He attributed this to a “higher offshore mix.” He said the pressure on margins to higher wage costs and lower foreign exchange realisations.
Suresh Vaswani, Joint Chief Executive Officer of Wipro's IT Business, said Wipro had been selected for implanting for enrolment of citizens for the Aadhaar project in Jharkhand and Tumkur district in Karnataka. “We have bid in other States as well,” he said.
