Bangalore: Wipro Ltd, India's third-largest software exporter, said on Wednesday its quarterly profit rose 17 per cent as Western clients led by chip makers and financial services firms ramped up technology outsourcing.
The company said its mainstay information technology unit was expected to earn Rs 20,881 crore ($463) million in revenue in its fiscal third-quarter ending December, up 7.5 per cent from the September quarter of last year.
Wipro, reporting numbers after Infosys and Tata Consultancy Service beat market expectations last week, said net profit in the second quarter ended September was Rs 480 crore ($106.4 million), compared with Rs 410 crore a year ago. Revenue rose 27 per cent to Rs 2,510 crore.
The company having made a string of niche acquisitions to gain access to customers said it added 39 clients during the quarter, and hired 4,575 IT services staff to take its total workforce to 45,835.
Wipro, which develops software for chipmakers and telecommunication gear makers like Nortel and Cisco, also has interests in computer hardware and consumer goods like light bulbs and soap.
Higher sales expenses and a sluggish back-office business have dented Wipro's profitability in recent quarters.
Shares in Wipro, valued at $11.8 billion, have risen just 3 percent in 2005, underperforming the benchmark IT index of Mumbai's stock exchange, which has risen 21 percent.
Wipro's third quarter usually features an annual rise in salary costs in line with its practice to raise pay halfway into a fiscal year unlike its peers, who do so in April.
Controlled by Azim Premji, India's wealthiest man based on his 84 per cent stake, Wipro faced a management challenge this year when it lost its high-profile vice-chairman, Vivek Paul, to US private equity firm Texas Pacific Group.
But Premji shrugged off the challenge with a corporate restructuring that saw lower-profile company veterans rise to new heights.
He promised higher activity in building up Wipro's portfolio of niche acquisitions to boost technology consulting.
Comments
0 comment