Led by application services and continued business from re-bid markets, Noida-based HCL Technologies on Thursday reported a consolidated net profit of ₹1,624 crore for the third quarter ended March 31, 2014, up 59 per cent from the corresponding period last year (₹1,021 crore).
The company follows July-June as its fiscal year. The company’s revenues during the period also rose 30 per cent to ₹8,349 crore from ₹6,430 crore in the same period last year, the company said in a statement.
Gross profit of the country’s fourth largest IT company also rose to ₹3,246 crore during the quarter, up 40 per cent from ₹2,313 crore.
“There is significant momentum in the re-bid markets and it’s a $120-billion opportunity. We are competing with large international firms and winning deals. In the third quarter alone, we have signed 12 transformational deals. The deal pipeline continues to be robust and should give us good momentum,” Anant Gupta, President and Chief Executive Officer, HCL Technologies, told reporters here.
He said the last quarter had been good for the company and the operating metrics are tracking well.
“We are increasing our relevance for the customer, cross-selling solutions. The bookings were over $1 billion,” he said adding that the application services business showed a robust performance.
Interim dividend Number of employees as of March 31, 2014 stood at 90,190 compared with 84,403 people last year. The company also announced interim dividend of ₹4 per share of face value of ₹ 2 each and it was for the 45 consecutive quarter of dividend payout.
According to analysts, the results were above expectations, better than Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys, and its stocks are expected to grow further in future.
“HCL Technologies results were above our estimates on all front. The strong growth in infrastructure services vertical followed by consistent uptake in software and BPO segment remains the positive surprise,” Daljeet S Kohli, Head of Research at IndiaNivesh Securities, said.
Additionally, he said, the company has maintained its margin despite software vertical revenue expansion. “We believe the company is in for further re-rating,” he added.
Shares of the company closed at ₹1,424.30 on the BSE, up 1.06 per cent from the previous close.