Wipro beats street expectations

BANGALORE: Palpable excitement was evident in the country''s third-largest software service exporter, Wipro, when it announced its Q3 results on Wednesday.
Not only is it just $100 million (Rs 450 crore) short of the much-coveted $1 billion tag as against $240 million (Rs 1080 crore) of its arch rival Infosys, it has beaten street estimates by posting the highest ever quarterly profit after tax.
To add another layer of icing was the improved guidance of $269 million (Rs 1210 crore) global IT revenue for the fourth quarter, making doubly sure that it will hit the billion dollar bull''s eye this year.
The PAT for the quarter grew by 19 per cent to Rs 274 crore while the revenue clocked was Rs 1,521 crore, an increase of 37 per cent year on year. Global IT service revenue stood at Rs 1,147 crore, up by 41 per cent.
According to Azim Premji, chairman, business traction in the global IT services continues to be robust. "In the last quarter there was a widespread growth right across all verticals. Pricing pressure is abating and margins too are stabilising," he said.
"This is a India Shining kind of a result. Not only is global IT export business doing well, but also, domestic business has shown strong profit growth. All indicators are good," noted Vivek Paul, vice chairman, Wipro.
According to him the telecom sector is regaining its momentum with clients like Cisco and Nortel Networks showing signs of a rebound. The company has recorded a QoQ growth of 15 per cent and YoY growth of about 55 per cent. "Telecom vertical has been the leader, as far as price increases are concerned. I don''t want to be overly optimistic, but we feel pretty good," Paul pointed out.