Infosys Ltd. Friday reported a net profit which remained almost the same as a year earlier but was still ahead of market expectations.
It raised slightly its sales-growth forecast for this fiscal year--suggesting some improvement in business momentum.
India's second-largest software exporter by revenue said in a statement consolidated net profit for the three months ended Dec. 30 was 23.69 billion rupees ($434 million) compared with 23.72 billion rupees a year earlier. The result was better than the average 22.10 billion rupees estimate in a poll of 19 analysts. Net profit also remained flat with the second quarter.
Consolidated revenue rose more than 12% to 104.24 billion rupees from 92.98 billion rupees--better than the average 101.66 billion rupees forecast in the same poll. Revenue grew 5.7% on quarter.
The company forecast sales of $7.45 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31, including contributions from Swiss business consulting company Lodestone Holding AG, which Infosys acquired in September. This is a slight increase on an earlier sales forecast of $7.34 billion.
The results are calculated according to international accounting standards.
Infosys shares were up as much as 12.4% on the Bombay Stock Exchange. At 0351 GMT, the stock was trading up 12% at 2,600.00 rupees while the benchmark Sensitive index was up 0.7%. The gains in Infosys also boosted the BSE IT Index--which was up 6.9%.
Last month Bangalore-based Infosys warned its October-December results could be hurt by slow decision-making and shutdowns by clients in the U.S. as a result of Superstorm Sandy in late October.
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