Wipro Q3 profit rises 2%, meets estimates

A week after India’s top two software exporters TCS and Infosys reported widely contrasting third-quarter numbers, Wipro posted third-quarter numbers that were largely in line with its own expectations and market estimates, with the company taking a one-time hit from the recent Chennai floods, but forecast an improved performance in the March quarter.

At 9.11 am on Monday, shares of Wipro were trading down 1.1% in early-morning trade at Rs.537.30 on the BSE.

For the March quarter, Wipro forecast revenue in the range of $1.875 billion to $1.912 billion, a sequential growth of 2-4% — largely in line with what brokerages were expecting.

For the October-December quarter, constant-currency revenue from Wipro’s IT services business stood at $1.838 billion, compared with $1.795 billion. In actual currency terms, Wipro posted revenue of about $1.86 billion. Net profit stood at $338 million, up 2% from last year and also in line with estimates.

In December, Wipro had said that revenues for the quarter ending on Dec. 31 would be in the lower half of its $1.84 billion to $1.88 billion range, while it would also book a one-off cost.

Analysts on an average were expecting Wipro to post revenue of around $1.84 billion, according to an ET Poll of more than a dozen analysts.

“We delivered revenues in line with our guidance. We saw a pick-up in large deal closures led by global infrastructure services. It is becoming increasingly clear that customers want to simplify operations and optimize their IT spend while investing in Digital to transform their business. We are well-positioned to take advantage of this trend,” said current CEO TK Kurien, who will become executive vice chairman next month.

While Wipro posted numbers that came in line with estimates, the latest performance pales in comparison to the forecast-beating numbers of cross-town rival Infosys last week and also falls short of growth rates at other larger rivals such as TCS.