Wipro net profit rises 13% to Rs 2,388 crore in first quarter
HYDERABAD : In Dian IT major Wipro Ltd on Wednesday reported 13 per cent increase in its consolidated net profit at Rs 2,388 crore for the quarter ended June 2019, against Rs 2,121 crore during the same quarter a year ago. The jump in profits was on a modest revenue growth of 5.3 per cent at Rs 14,716 crore compared to Rs 13,978 crore during the same period. Sequentially, however, both revenue and profit fell 2 and 4 per cent respectively.
Though the company added a handful of clients above $50 million, it lost several customers with smaller contracts, possibly leading to erosion of profits. Broadly, the firm’s growth came from its traditional IT services and of course banking, financial services and insurance vertical. Going forward, Wipro expects revenue from the IT Services business to be in the range of $2,039-2,080 million this fiscal, translating to a sequential growth of about 2 per cent.
Meanwhile, in a statement, the company said it reduced its equity holding from 74 per cent to 11 per cent in Wipro Airport IT Services during the just-concluded quarter, but added that the loss/gain on the transaction was insignificant. It may be noted that the company had earlier announced a buyback proposal for purchase of up to 323.1 million equity shares of Rs 2 each from shareholders on a proportionate basis by way of a tender offer at a price of Rs 325 per equity share.Meanwhile, Wipro chief executive officer Abidali Neemuchwala will take over as managing director with effect from July 31.