Noida-based software services company HCL Technologies (HCLTech) on Monday reported consolidated net profit of Rs 1,823 crore for the first quarter ended September 30, 2015, down 2.7 per cent as compared with Rs 1,873 crore in the same period last year.
HCLTech and analysts had already warned of a 'tepid' September quarter on account of adverse currency impact and a client-specific issue.
However, its consolidated revenue grew by 15.6 per cent to Rs 10,097 crore (ex-adjustment) during the July-September quarter as against Rs 8,735 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
The country's fourth largest software company follows July-June as its fiscal year.
"We have started fiscal year 2016 on a strong footing with last 12 months revenue growth of 15 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in constant currency. Our investments in BEYONDigital, Next-Gen ITO and IoT offerings is reflected in our healthy bookings and deal pipeline," Anant Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, HCLTech said.
Revenues from Europe grew 18.2 per cent YoY while those from the Americas jumped 12.3 per cent during the said quarter. Vertical growth was led by lifesciences and healthcare at 40.5 per cent, telecommunications, media, publishing and entertainment at 23.2 per cent, retail and CPG at 6.6 per cent, public services at 22 per cent, manufacturing at 12.7 per cent and financial services at 7.7 per cent YoY, the company said.
The company saw an exit of 536 employees during the last quarter, taking the total headcount to 1,05,571 people.
It signed 10 transformational engagements with more than one billion dollar of 'Total Contract Value' during the quarter.
The company has declared an interim dividend of Rs 5 per share of Rs 2.
According to analysts, HCLTech results demonstrate the importance of maintaining the bottom line and managing attrition, as opposed to concerns on top line and dollar earnings in the two earlier quarterly announcements of TCS and Infosys.
"A holistic view thus emerges for the IT/ITES industry as a whole, highlighting the importance of managing all (not some) of the performance levers - top line and bottom line growth, dollar earnings, new customer acquisitions and attrition," Sanjoy Sen, Doctoral Research Scholar, Aston Business School, UK, said.
A failure to achieve any one or some of these is having a negative effect on share prices. This in turn foregrounds the overall concerns about the slower growth of the sector amidst reduced IT spending globally as predicted by Gartner, he said.