HCLTech Q2 results: Net profit rises 10%; IT firm declares interim dividend of Rs 12 per share

HCL Technologies Ltd (HCLTech), India's No.3 IT services company, reported 10% rise in second-quarter profit on Thursday, helped by a robust deal momentum even as larger macroeconomic weakness persisted. The firm reported net profit of Rs 3,832 crore in Q2FY24 as against Rs 3,487 crore in Q2FY23.

The firm's Board of Directors has declared an interim dividend of Rs 12 per equity share of Rs 2 face value.

The record date of October 20, 2023 has been fixed for the payment of the interim dividend. The payment of the interim dividend shall be October 31, 2023.

On Thursday, HCLTech's scrip on BSE closed 1.7% lower at Rs 1,224.05.

"Our revenue growth of 1.0 per cent QoQ and 3.4 per cent Y-o-Y on a constant currency basis, with a 154 bps Q-o-Q improvement in operating margin and improving cashflows, reflect our ability to execute well in an evolving business environment and our commitment to operational efficiency. Our new bookings of $ 4 billion this quarter is at an all-time high, driven by a standout mega deal. This achievement underscores our ability to seize exceptional opportunities in the market and gives us optimism for our medium-term growth prospects", said C Vijayakumar, CEO and MD of HCLTechnologies.

HCLTech trimmed its full-year outlook for revenue growth on Thursday, signalling near-term weakness in spending as its clients remained cautious due to uncertain demand and a challenging macroeconomic environment.

The company now expects organic growth in fiscal 2024 to be between 4-5% year-on-year in constant currency terms from the 6-8% it expected earlier. It also expects growth including German acquisition ASAP to be between 5-6%.

HCLTech said in July it would buy automotive engineering services firm ASAP Group for $280 million.

Consolidated revenue from operations rose over 8% to Rs 26,673 crore.

The results come after larger rivals Infosys cut the upper end of its full-year revenue outlook and TCS missed Q2 revenue estimates on weak client spending.

Both companies had flagged an uncertain demand outlook in the near term, with TCS saying it was unclear on when discretionary spending will be back, as fears of economic slowdown and higher-for-longer interest rates pushed clients in key U.S. and European markets to cut spends.

With inputs from Reuters