Wipro reports muted Q1FY18, sees revenue at $2 billion in Q2FY18

IT-major Wipro on Thursday announced its financial result for the quarter ended on June 30. The company reported a standalone net profit of Rs 2026.8 crore, a rise of just 0.9% as against Rs 2007.7 crore during the same period last year. In the fourth quarter of last fiscal, the company had reported a net profit of Rs 2303.5 crore. 

On consolidated basis, the company reported a net profit of Rs 2082.6 crore as against Rs 2059 crore in Q1FY17. 

Abidali Z. Neemuchwala, Chief Executive Officer, said, "“We delivered revenues above the upper end of the guidance range. Our focus on Digital combined with our investments in client mining have resulted in strong growth in Top accounts.”

The company's net income for the quarter stood at Rs 20,800 crore, an increase of 1.2% on y-o-y basis. 

Wipro's gross revenue were Rs 13,630 crore, an increase of 0.2% on y-o-y basis. From the IT business, the revenues in terms of dollar were  $1,971.7 million, a sequential increase of 0.9% (NonGAAP constant currency increase of 0.3% sequentially) and 2.1% YoY (Non-GAAP constant currency increase of 3.4% YoY). 

IT Services segment profits in Q1FY18 stood at Rs 21,900 crore, a drop of 5.8% on y-o-y basis. 

Apart from financial result, the company also announced that the Board has approved buyback proposal of Rs 11,000 crore at a buyback price of Rs 320.

Jatin Dalal, Chief Financial Officer, said, "The impact on operating margins by rupee appreciation and salary increases was partially offset by strong business efficiencies. We continue to sustain robust cash generation. The announcement to buyback equity shares is part of our philosophy to deliver efficient returns to shareholders.”

Giving guidance for the next quarter, the company said "We expect Revenues from our IT Services business to be in the range of $1,962 million to $2,001 million."

Analysts had expected muted quarter for the company in terms of profit and a drop in revenues. Sandip Agarwal and Pranav Kshatriya, analysts at Edelweiss Financial Services Wipro to post USD revenue decline of 0.3% QoQ (cc decline of 1.2% QoQ), as Q1 is generally weak quarter for Wipro."

Wipro's net profit is seen at Rs 2,059.9 crore with muted growth of 0.4% yoy and revenue at Rs 13, 425 crore down 1.3% on yoy basis, as per Edelweiss. 

The shares of the company closed at Rs 269 per piece, down 0.83% or Rs 2.25 on BSE.