The Hindu Business Line : Infosys Q2 net surges 52 pc

Strong numbers: Mr Nandan M. Nilekani (right), Chairman and CEO, Infosys, and Mr T.V. Mohandas Pai, Director, HR, at a press conference in Bangalore on Wednesday. - G.R.N. Somashekar

Bangalore , Oct 11

Infosys Technologies Ltd beat street estimates to post 52 per cent rise in net profit for the second quarter ended September and forecast earnings for this fiscal in excess of $3 billion.

Good all-round growth helped Infosys report net profit of Rs 930 crore on revenues of Rs 3,451 crore for the period, growing 52 per cent and 50.4 per cent respectively over the corresponding previous period's net of Rs 612 crore and revenues of Rs 2,294 crore.

Net profit and revenues for the first half grew 52 per cent and 48 per cent respectively to Rs 1,738 crore and Rs 6,466 crore over the corresponding previous period.

Sequentially, net profit grew 16 per cent while revenues rose 14.5 per cent.

The company has declared an interim dividend of Rs 5 per share (100 per cent on par value of Rs 5 per share), compared to Rs 3.25 in the corresponding previous quarter.

Following better-than-expected results, the Infosys stock on Wednesday opened high at Rs 1,972 on the BSE and touched an intra-day high of Rs 2,024 before closing at Rs 1,981.35, a four per cent gain over the previous close of Rs 1,906.

Attributing the performance to all-round broadbased growth in large accounts, Mr Nandan Nilekani, Chairman and CEO, said that he does not see any slowdown in US tech spending.

Based on a company dipstick study, Mr Nilekani said that he expected tech budgets to remain flat or marginally improve going forward, as clients are increasing offshore work.

Buoyed by the second quarter results, Infosys has raised its guidance for the whole year.

For the third quarter, Infosys expects year-on-year earnings growth of 42.3-43.2 per cent, with revenues in range of Rs 3,602-3,625 crore.

The earnings per share (EPS) are expected to be Rs 16.84, a growth of 42.2 per cent.

For the whole fiscal, the company sees revenues in the range of Rs 13,853-13,899 crore, a growth of 45.5-46 per cent. The EPS is expected to be Rs 66, a growth of 46.6 per cent.

Infosys and its subsidiaries added 45 new clients, of which 10 are Fortune 500 firms.

The company saw the highest employee addition of 10,975 on gross basis, taking its overall headcount to 66,150.

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