HCL Tech Q1 profit rises 15% on growth across verticals: expects FY17 revenue at 12-14%

New Delhi: HCL Technologies, the country’s fourth largest IT firm, saw its June quarter consolidated net profit rise by 14.8 percent to Rs 2,047 crore on account of broad-based growth across service offerings, while it expects 12-14 percent revenue growth in the ongoing fiscal. The Noida-based firm, which had posted a net profit of Rs 1,783 crore in the April-June 2015 quarter, has resumed its practice of presenting a revenue outlook for the new fiscal after 12 years. For the reported quarter, HCL Tech’s revenues grew 15.9 percent to Rs 11,336 crore, from Rs 9,777 crore in the year-ago period, as per US GAAP accounting norms. For FY2016-17, it expects its topline to grow 12-14 percent without fluctuations in currencies, higher than Nasscom’s outlook of 10-12 percent rise in IT industry’s export revenues for the fiscal. On constant currency basis, HCL Tech’s revenues were up 11.2 percent year-on-year in the June 2016 quarter. “It has been a very good quarter, we have started with a very good performance with 6 percent revenue growth quarter-on-quarter in constant currency terms,” HCL Technologies President and CEO Anant Gupta told reporters here. He added that the growth momentum is broadbased, encompassing all sectors and service lines, propelled by its focus on new technologies and robust business model. “For Q1 FY2017, the company posted numbers better than expected, on all fronts,” Angel Broking VP (Research - IT) Sarabjit Kour Nangra said. In dollar terms, the company’s net profit grew 9.5 percent to $305.2 million, while revenues rose 10 percent to $1.69 billion compared to the year-ago period. HCL Technologies’ deal with Volvo’s IT services division in February added over $40 million to the June quarter revenue, up 6.5 percent than the previous quarter. HCL Tech earlier followed the July-June fiscal but has now moved to April-March cycle as mandated by Companies Act. Asked about the reason for resuming its practice of giving revenue outlook, Chief Financial Officer Anil Chanana said the company wanted to give a “lead indicator for the markets to take a view of the company” and its performance. HCL Tech has announced a dividend of Rs 6 per share. During the quarter, HCL Technologies added 1,211 people, taking total headcount to 1,06,107 people. Attrition in IT services (last 12 months basis) stood at 17.8 percent. HCL Tech signed 13 transformational deals this quarter.