IT services provider Infosys has posted a 27 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 2,316 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2012. The profits in the same quarter last year were Rs 1,818 crore. Total Income has increased to Rs 9,504 crore (Rs 7,665 crore).

For the full year, it reported a 21 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 8,316 crore from Rs 6,823 crore in the previous year. Revenues grew 24 per cent to Rs 35,638 crore (Rs 28,712 crore).

Results fact-sheet

The Infosys stock tumbled 9.3 per cent to Rs 2,494 on the BSE in early trade.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, net profit was down 2.4 per cent.

Earlier, the company had given the guidance for Q4 revenues to be in the range of Rs 9,391 crore and Rs 9,412 crore and expected a year-on-year growth of 29.5 per cent to 29.8 per cent.

PTI reports: “We had a very difficult quarter with revenues declining sequentially. The global currency market volatility continues to be a challenge for the industry,” the Infosys Chief Financial Officer and Member of Board, Mr V. Balakrishnan, said.

Outlook for FY13 first quarter

The company expects revenue in the range of Rs 9,011 crore-Rs 9,100 crore for the quarter ending June 30, and in the range of Rs 38,431 crore-Rs 39,136 crore for the FY’13.

The company, however, has warned of challenging times ahead.

“The year ahead looks challenging for the IT industry with slow recovery in the global markets. We are executing on our Infosys 3.0 strategy which is meant to deliver high quality growth in the medium to long-term. We are making investments and have put in place a structure to deliver on this strategy,” the Infosys CEO and Managing Director, Mr S.D. Shibulal, said.

Infosys, which has Goldman Sachs, BT Group and BP Plc among its clients, added 52 clients during the quarter.

At the end of March 31, the company had over 1.49 lakh employees, which includes a gross addition of 10,676 staff during the fourth quarter. The net addition in Q4 was 4,906 people.

The board of directors recommended a final dividend of Rs 22 per equity share for the financial year ended March 31, 2012 and a special dividend (10 years of Infosys BPO operations) of Rs 10 per equity share.

Source: Business Line