Infosys put up a disappointing show in the third quarter ended December 31, 2023, with net profits shrinking 7.3 per cent even as it narrowed its revenue growth guidance for the current fiscal.

The company recorded a net profit of Rs 6,106 crore against Rs 6,856 crore a year ago. While net profit was expected to fall, it came below the forecast made by some analysts.

The expectations had ranged between Rs 6,000 crore and Rs 6,500 crore.

Infosys revised revenue guidance for 2023-24, the third in this financial year. It now projects revenues to increase 1.5-2 per cent in 2023-24 against the guidance of 1-2.5 per cent growth in October.

In the April-June quarter, it had reduced the guidance to 1-3.5 per cent from the earlier estimate of 4-7 per cent. Some of the brokerages such as Kotak Institutional Equities had expected the company to lower the guidance on the upper end.

Revenues rose 1.3 per cent to Rs 38,821 crore in the third quarter from Rs 38,318 crore a year ago.

The company disclosed it secured deals worth $3.2 billion during the quarter, lower than the deals of $7.7 billion it obtained in the preceding quarter.

“Our performance in the third quarter was resilient. Large deal wins were strong at $3.2 billion, with 71 per cent of this as net new, reflecting the relevance and strength of our portfolio of offerings ranging from generative AI, digital and cloud to cost, efficiency, and automation. This is the highest deal win in the nine quarters that the company has ever had,” Infosys CEO and MD Salil Parekh said.

Parekh added that there has been no change in clients’ behaviour on spending during the quarter.

“For the first three quarters, our revenue grew 1.8 per cent over the same period last year in constant currency. Based on the performance in the first three quarters and outlook for the fourth quarter, we are tightening our revenue growth guidance for 2023-24 to 1.5-2 per cent growth in constant currency. Operating margin guidance for 2023-24 remains unchanged at 20-22 per cent,” Parekh said.

He said the company continues to see the impact of the soft macro-economic environment globally in sectors such as financial services, telco and high tech. “Equally, we see growth in manufacturing, energy, utilities, and life sciences.’’

Infosys’s employee count reduced to 3,22,663 from 328,764 in Q2.

The board has approved a proposal to acquire a Bangalore-based semiconductor design service provider InSemi for about Rs 280 crore.