Infosys bets on double-digit growth again; beats guidance

Friday, 15 April 2011, 21:47 IST
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Bangalore: Riding on tech revival and increasing outsourcing, India's second largest IT bellwether Infosys Technologies forecast a double-digit revenue growth again in the new fiscal 2011-12. Having beaten its last revised guidance for last fiscal (2010-11) and its fourth quarter (Jan-March) with robust growth, the company said consolidated revenue for this fiscal (FY 2012) would be 31,999 crore (320 billion) -- an increase of 16.4 percent year-on-year (YoY), according to the Indian accounting standard. "We expect the demand environment to be normal this year for the industry," Infosys chief executive S. Gopalakrishnan said in a statement. "We have created a structure with strong customer-driven vertical focus and enhanced our investment to take advantage of the opportunities we see in the market," he added. For the first quarter (April-June) of this fiscal, consolidated revenue is expected to be 7,347 crore (73.5 billion), projecting an increase of 18.6 percent YoY. Under the International Financial Regulatory System (IFRS), consolidated revenue is projected to be $7.2 billion for entire fiscal, an increase of 19 percent YoY and $1.66 billion for this quarter (Q1), which would be 21.6 percent higher YoY. For the fourth quarter (Jan-March) of last fiscal (FY 2011), the company posted net profit of 1,818 crore (18.18 billion), registering an increase of 17.1 percent YoY and 2.1 percent sequentially, according to the Indian accounting standard. Consolidated income during the quarter under review (Q4) was 7,250 crore (72.5 billion) -- an increase of 22 percent YoY and two percent sequentially. Under the IFRS, net income for the quarter increased to $402 million, up 19 percent YoY and 1.3 percent sequentially, while gross income rose to $1.6 billion, up 24 percent YoY but flat sequentially. "We have realigned our strategic focus to enable our clients to build their enterprise of tomorrow. We continue to make investment towards strengthening our transformational, operational and innovation capabilities," chief operating officer S.D. Shibulal said. Maintaining its robust growth quarter-on-quarter through last fiscal, the blue-chip company posted net profit of 6,823 crore (68.23 billion) for fiscal 2010-11, registering an increase of 9.7 percent YoY. Similarly, consolidated income for the entire fiscal under review (FY 2011) shot up 21 percent YoY to 27,501 crore (275 billion), surpassing its last revised guidance of 27,445 crore (274 billion) given Jan 13. Under IFRS, net income rose to $1.5 billion, up 14 percent YoY and gross income to $6 billion, an increase of 26 percent YoY. "We are seeing growth opportunities emerging in the market place. Our focus on high quality growth enables us to make the right investments to capture those opportunities," chief financial officer V. Balakrishnan said. On account of double-digit growth and strong bottomline, the company's board recommended a final dividend of 20 per share of 5 each or 400 percent for fiscal 2010-11, an increase of 100 percent over previous fiscal (2009-10). With an interim dividend of 10 per share (200 percent) and 30 per share (600 percent) special dividend on the occasion of the IT bellwether completing 30 years, the total dividend for FY 2011 zoomed to 60 per share or a whopping 1,200 percent as against 25 per share (500 percent) in previous fiscal. The global software major and its subsidiaries added 34 clients during the fourth quarter, taking the total number for the fiscal to 620 as against 575 at the end of previous fiscal (FY 2010) and 612 in third quarter (Oct-Dec) of FY 2011. With net addition of 3,041 employees in the quarter under review (Q4), the company's total headcount has gone up to 130,820 for fiscal 2011 from 113,796 at the end of FY 2010, an increase of 15 percent YoY. "We had a great year. We recruited 43,000 people during the fiscal, had 1.6 million persons days of training and made 26,000 campus offers for new fiscal (FY 2012)," outgoing human resources department head and board member T.V. Mohandas Pai said. In a related development, Pai and co-founder K.Dinesh resigned from the company's board of directors in pursuit of their personal endeavours. The company has appointed former Microsoft India chairman Ravi Venkatesan as an additional director on the board. The company's 30th annual general meeting will be held June 11.
Source: IANS