Infosys delays second-quarter earnings to 24 October citing logistical issues

Infosys, the Bengaluru-headquartered software major, has said it will be delaying its forthcoming second quarter (July-September) results by nearly two weeks to 24 October. By announcing this, India’s second-largest software exporter is breaking away from its tradition of announcing the result in the first two weeks of the beginning of the next quarter, and also much ahead of its IT peers. In a statement communicated to exchanges, the company said the delay in declaring the results is due to logistics issues. “This time certain logistics issues during the early second week (12th or 13th of the month) and the festivities the week after have resulted in a deferment,” Business Standard report said quoting an Infosys spokesperson. [caption id=“attachment_3969845” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] The board of directors will meet on 23-24 October to also consider payment of an interim dividend. Investor community and brokerage analysts keep a close watch on the company’s earnings in order to get a sense of the sector’s growth. This will be the first earnings after Nandan Nilekani’s return to the company as the non-executive chairman, after Vishal Sikka resigned as CEO following an extended spat with founder NR Narayana Murthy. The delay in earnings announcement is also because of Nilekani’s engagements which were earlier scheduled before he rejoined the company, the BS report said. Earlier this year, Murthy had criticised the board for not maintaining corporate governance standards at the company and also expressed concerns regarding severance packages to some former executives. Specifically pointing at the acquisition of Israeli firm Panaya, Murthy asked the board to make the report by legal firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, public, Moneycontrol report said. In a letter to the board last month, Murthy had asked the board why Ritika Suri, a member of the team that was involved in the controversial buyout of Israeli firm Panaya, resigned soon after the law firm gave a clean chit to the company.