Hughes Software Q4 profit rises 8.7 percent

Tuesday, 15 April 2003, 19:30 IST
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Hughes Software, one of India's leading communication software service providers, Monday said its net profit for the quarter ended March 31 rose 8.7 percent over the corresponding period previous year.

NEW DELHI: The company's profit in the January-March quarterly period touched 138 million, up from 127 million logged in the fourth quarterly period of fiscal year 2001-02, said a Hughes press statement here. Sales at Hughes Software in the quarter ended March 31, 2003 rose 9.8 percent to 637 million, up from 580 million in the same period previous fiscal. The company added seven new customers during the January-March quarter that includes Accounts Systems, Taqua Systems, Kineto Wireless and Meru Networks. Hughes added 395 employees in the quarter, including 186 from Lucent. "We have shown consistent quarter-on-quarter growth in the last three quarters, and continue to work towards predictability and scalability," said Hughes Software Systems president and managing director Arun Kumar. "The overall telecom macro picture still does not show clarity, although the worst seems to be behind us. Hughes Software positioning going in to the next year, however, looks pretty good." Hughes said its business process outsourcing (BPO) business showed a significant acceleration during the quarter. Strong growth is likely to continue in to the future. In the fiscal year 2002-03, the net profit dropped 27.4 percent to 379 million and sales fell 6.2 percent to 2.20 billion as the company faced competition in the telecom services business. Hughes expects profit to grow 40-45 percent in the year to March 2004 on a 35-40 percent rise in revenue because of an expected boom in its new diversifications. "We are looking at scaling our operations based on large account acquisition and enhancing the size of our existing relationships. Our BPO and telecom businesses are expected to grow well too," said Kumar.
Source: IANS