Wipro Q3 net profit falls 5.8% to ₹2,114.8 crore

Country's third largest software services firm Wipro on Wednesday posted a 5.8 per cent drop in its consolidated net profit to Rs 2,114.8 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2016.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 2,246 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.

The city-based firm, however, saw revenues rising 6.2 per cent to Rs 13,764.5 crore in the said quarter from Rs 12,951.6 crore in the same period last year, according to a filing on the BSE. The result is as per Indian Accounting Standards.

Wipro's IT services segment revenue stood at $1,902.8 million, a sequential decrease of 0.7 per cent and 3.5 per cent rise year-on-year as per IFRS.

This is, however, lower than the company's guidance of $1,916-1,955 million.

For the March 2017 quarter, Wipro expects revenues from IT services business to be in the range of $1,922 million to $1,941 million.

"We expanded operating margins by 50 basis points in a seasonally weak quarter and generated strong operating cash flows by disciplined execution," Wipro Chief Financial Officer Jatin Dalal said.

Last year, Wipro invested almost $1 billion into acquisitions, made six investments through Wipro Ventures, funded 8 ideas through Horizon programme, and continued to invest aggressively in cognitive platform, Wipro CEO and Board member Abidali Z Neemuchwala said.

Digital ecosystem grew by 9.9 per cent sequentially in the quarter and now constitutes 21.7 per cent of Wipro's revenues, he added.

The IT services segment had a headcount of 1,79,129 as of December 31, 2016.

Wipro's IT products segment delivered revenue of Rs 570 crore ($84 million) for the quarter ended December 31, 2016.

Wipro's Board has approved an interim dividend of Rs 2 per equity share.