NEW DELHI: The company said its net profit before exceptional items touched 1.16 billion in the January-March quarter of the current year, marginally up from 1.15 billion in the same period in the last year. For the first time, however, the Hyderabad-based firm reported a quarterly net loss after exceptional items of 359.16 million, as against a profit of 744.01 million in the January-March period a year earlier. Revenues rose 14.5 percent to 5.53 billion in the same period on increased outsourcing by overseas clients. Satyam said the net loss after exceptional items was due to writing off an investment worth 1.26 billion in VisionCompass, a subsidiary whose operations it has decided to discontinue. "The revenue growth has been achieved despite the challenging economic and geopolitical environment in which we continue to operate," said Ramalinga Raju, chairman of Satyam. "What is more gratifying is the fact that during the year we emerged as a full services provider increasingly competing and winning against the large global companies," he said. In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2003, Satyam's net profit before exceptional income touched 4.6 billion, down from 4.9 billion in the last fiscal year. Revenue rose from 18 billion to 20.5 billion. The company added 100 customers during 2002-03, including 23 from the Fortune 500 list. "Our established and enduring partnership model with such high quality customers signifies considerable growth potential," said Raju. The total manpower strength as on March 31, 2003 stood at 9,759 associates as against 9,304 associates as on December 31, 2002, an increase of 455 associates quarter-to-quarter. Satyam, however, boosted market sentiments on technology counters Thursday by projecting a better-than-expected business outlook in the months ahead. The country's fourth largest software services exporter, Satyam forecast earnings per share of 15.65 to 16 in the current year, a growth of seven to 10 percent from the past year. Mirroring the sentiment, shares of Satyam closed with a gain of 6.6 percent at 159.65, after rising as much as 10.8 percent in intra-day trade.
Source: IANS