HCL Technologies April-June net grows 6.1% to Rs 2,171 cr; shares rise over 3%

New Delhi: India’s fourth-largest software services exporter HCL Technologies on Thursday reported 6.1 percent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,171 crore for the first quarter ended on  30 June, 2017.  The company had posted a net profit of Rs 2,047 crore in the year-ago period, HCL Technologies said in a BSE filing. Consolidated revenues grew 7.2 percent to Rs 12,149 crore in April-June 2017 as against Rs 11,336 crore in the same quarter of 2016-17. Shares of the company rose by over 3 percent to Rs 918.90 in early trade on BSE after the results. In dollar terms, the company’s net profit increased 10.3 per cent to USD 336.7 million in the reported quarter, while revenues grew 11.4 per cent to USD 1.88 billion. HCL Technologies maintained its revenue growth guidance of between 10.5-12.5 percent in constant currency terms. “We continue to propel forward on our Mode 123 growth strategy, delivering a revenue growth of 2.6 percent quarter-on-quarter and 12.2 percent year-on-year in constant currency terms in Q1 FY2018,” HCL Technologies President and CEO C Vijayakumar said. This quarter, HCL Technologies also expanded EBIT margins from 20 percent to 20.1 percent, through continued superior execution in core business, integration and assimilation of the acquired entities, as well as IP investments, he added. HCL Technologies CFO Anil Chanana said the share buyback of Rs 3,500 crore was successfully concluded during the quarter. “…together with the dividend per share of Rs 2 this quarter, is demonstrative of our balanced capital allocation focus,” he added. HCL Tech reported broad-based growth across all revenue segments with the Americas and Europe growing by 16.9 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively, year-on-year. Financial services grew at 19.2 percent, manufacturing at 17.1 percent, life sciences and healthcare at 10.6 percent, public services at 6.4 percent, retail and CPG at 7.1 percent. However, telecommunications, media, publishing and entertainment posted 2.7 percent y-o-y decline in constant currency. For the June quarter, HCL Technologies had cash and cash equivalents of Rs 1,226 crore. During the quarter, 13 transformational deals were signed across service lines, industry verticals and geographies. Total headcount stood at 117,781 at the end of June 2017, with a gross addition of 9,462 people. The attrition for IT services on LTM (last twelve months) basis stood at 16.2 per cent. The company has announced a dividend of Rs 2 per share.