Wipro zooms high, net up 27

Despite a yo-yo Rupee, higher employee compensations and two strategic acquisitions, Wipro Ltd on Wednesday came out with better-than-expect...

Despite a yo-yo Rupee, higher employee compensations and two strategic acquisitions, Wipro Ltd on Wednesday came out with better-than-expected numbers for its Q3 results. The software major8217;s revenues were up 30 per cent with net profit improving by 27 per cent on a year-on-year basis.

Q3 net profit touched Rs 543.5 crore, on revenues of Rs 2,743.9 crore, compared to the net profit of Rs 426.8 crore and revenues of Rs 2,110.1 crore during the same quarter previous year. Sequentially, Wipro8217;s revenues grew by 9.5 per cent, while net profit was up by 13.7 per cent.

Analysts said Wipro has surpassed the street expectations compared to the other two IT majors 8211; Infosys and TCS 8211; who had announced their quarterly numbers already. While TCS numbers fell short of forecast, Infosys had met its guidance.

The street had reacted positively to Wipro8217;s third quarter earnings. The stock closed at NSE at Rs 461.05 on Wednesday, up by 2.83 per cent.

Wipro8217;s operating margins during the quarter had gone up by 40 basis points, despite a 12 per cemt hike in offshore salary effective November last. The net financial impact of rupee volatility was also negligible, owing to the strong growth in operating margins and hedging returns.

Operating margins would be further boosted this quarter, through improved manpower utilisation, better cost management and good onshore 8211; offshore mix, company CFO Suresh Senapathy said.

Biocon net profit Rs 44 crore

Bangalore: Biotech major Biocon Ltd reported a net profit of Rs 44 crore for the third quarter ended December 2005, down from Rs 50 crore posted in the corresponding period last year. The nine months-ended FY06 net profit was Rs 126 crore as against Rs 155 crore last year, a statement from the Bangalore-headquartered firm said. Biocon8217;s nine months performance FY06 continued in line with expectations with revenues touching Rs 578 crore, it said.

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Consolidated sales grew by 7 per cent over the same period in the previous year. However, operating profits fell by seven per cent. The profit after tax margins were at 22 per cent, it added.

Commenting on the results, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, CMD, Biocon Ltd, said, 8216;8216;66I am pleased that we continue to deliver healthy profits at a time when we are investing in our discovery-led research programmes8217;8217;.

HCL Tech net at Rs 277.79 crore

MUMBAI: HCL Technologies Ltd reported a net profit of Rs 277.79 crore for the quarter ended December 2005 as compared to Rs 76.54 crore for the corresponding quarter last year. Total income was reported at Rs 11,175.00 for the quarter ended 2005 whereas the same was at Rs 362.40 crore in the year-ago period.The board of directors has declared an interim dividendof Rs 4 per share that is, 200 per cent on a equity share of face value of Rs 2.

The results for the quarter are not comparable with those of the corresponding previous periods, pursuant to the amalgamation of HCL8217;s wholly owned subsidiaries, DSL Software Ltd, Shipara Technologies Ltd, HCL Technologies BPO Services Ltd, HCL Technologies Mumbai Ltd, Aquila Technologies Ltd and HCL Enterprise Solutions India Ltd, with the company.

8212; ENS 038; Agencies