Technology giant infosys saw its fourth quarter net profits tumble on a sequential basis even as its revenues rose by a blip but trailed market estimates.
India’s second biggest software services company also unveiled a Rs 9,200-crore share buyback programme that fell well short of expectations. There was, however, some consolation as Infosys guided for a double-digit revenue growth during this fiscal.
The Bangalore-based company reported a net profit of Rs 5,076 crore — an increase of 17.47 per cent over Rs 4,321 crore in the year-ago period. However, it was 2.33 per cent lower than the preceding three months. The net profit number was lower than the Rs 5,100-5,250 crore expected by analysts.
Revenues during the fourth quarter rose just 1.5 per cent sequentially to Rs 26,311 crore but was higher by 13.1 per cent from Rs 23,267 crore reported in the fourth quarter of 2019-20.
In dollar terms, it stood at $3,613 million, which was lower than the $3,646 million expected by brokerages such as Reliance Securities.
However, these disappointments were made up by a robust order book which placed it on a strong foundation for the current fiscal.
Large deal wins stood at $2.1 per cent during the fourth quarter and for the entire year, it was at $14 billion. With clients across industries continuing to bet on technology, Infosys said it expects revenues in constant currency terms to rise 12-14 per cent in 2021-22, which came in line with analysts’ estimates.
There was no good news on the operating margin front as Infosys guided for a 22-24 per cent rise for the current fiscal, which was lower than the 24.5 per cent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020-21. Moreover, attrition jumped to 15.2 per cent from 10 per cent in the preceding quarter.
At a press conference, the top management of Infosys said there are certain tailwinds on costs which could impact operating margins. The company expects to give out salary hikes in July after rolling out increments in January this year.
Moreover, certain other costs such as travel are expected to inch up for the company.
“Our intense focus on client relevance, growing our digital portfolio with differentiated capabilities and empowering employees have helped us emerge as a preferred partner-of-choice for our global clients,’’ CEO and MD Salil Parekh said.
While digital services contributed 51.5 per cent of revenues during the quarter, all verticals barring communications showed growth during the period.
Financial services reported a 15.6 per cent constant currency growth over last year, while it stood at 18.3 per cent for life sciences and 15.5 per cent for high-tech.
Analysts do not rule out the possibility of the Infosys stock opening lower in Thursday’s trade. Incidentally, the Infosys ADR was trading more than 3.50 per cent lower after the results were announced.
Infosys has announced a Rs 9,200 crore ($1.2 billion) share buy back which fell short of Street expectations. The expectation in some circles was that it would announce a Rs 10,000-12,000 crore share re-purchase programme. Nomura had anticipated that the company Infosys will announce a $1.3-1.9 billion plan at a maximum price of Rs 1,650 per share.
Infosys will buy back shares from the open market at a price of up to Rs 1,750 per share.
For 2020-21, the board recommended a final dividend of Rs 15 per share. Together with the interim dividend of Rs 12 per share, the total dividend per share for 2020-21 will be Rs 27, which is a 54 per cent increase over the previous fiscal. With this, the company has announced total dividend of Rs 11,500 crore for 2020-21.