Infosys Q2 net profit rises to Rs 3,096 crore, earnings beat estimates

Infosys on Friday posted 28.6 per cent jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 3,096 crore for the quarter ended September 30 beating market expectations.

The Bangalore-based IT-services provider had reported a net profit of Rs 2,407 crore in the year-ago period, it said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The company's consolidated revenue was up 2.9 per cent to Rs 13,342 crore in the reporting quarter from Rs 12,965 crore in the year-ago period.

In the April-June quarter for the current fiscal, Infosys reported a net profit of Rs 2,886 crore and a revenue of Rs 12,770 crore.

Buoyed by a strong set of numbers, the IT services major has declared an interim dividend of Rs 30 per equity share as compared to Rs 20 in the previous year.

It has also recommended a bonus issue of one equity share for every equity share held, and a bonus issue of a stock dividend of one American Depositary Share (ADS) for every ADS held, respectively.

The better-than-expected set of numbers pushed the company's stock up 5.61 per cent to Rs 3,850.05 a piece in early trade on the BSE.

For the current fiscal, Infosys maintained its revenue guidance of 7-9 per cent growth.

In dollar terms, the NYSE-listed firm's net profits grew 33.4 per cent to US $511 million in second quarter of this fiscal from US $383 million in the year-ago period.

In dollar terms, the company's revenues rose 6.5 per cent to US $2.2 billion in the July-September quarter of 2014-15 fiscal from US $2.07 billion in the same quarter of previous financial year.

"Digital transformation is reshaping the business of every one of our clients. We see this as a great opportunity to help them renew the core of their business as well as to expand into new frontiers and are seeing early positive results," Infosys CEO and Managing Director Vishal Sikka said.

He added that the company's strategy is to apply the same principles to its own business in order to capture this opportunity and accelerate growth.

"We have been able to improve our margins during the quarter and feel confident of sustaining these within a narrow band," Infosys CFO Rajiv Bansal said.

During the July-September quarter, the country's second-largest software services firm and its subsidiaries added 49 clients.

Infosys made a gross addition of 14,255 employees (net addition of 4,127) for the said quarter, taking its total headcount to 1,65,411 as of September 30, 2014.

The company's attrition level was higher at 20.1 per cent in the said quarter as compared to 19.5 per cent in the June quarter.