Infosys Q2 net profit rises 6.9%, FY18 revenue guidance cut to 5.5%-6.5%

IT major Infosys on Tuesday reported Rs 3,726 crore in Q2 net profit which came below analysts' estimates.

These are the first set of earnings after former CEO Vishal Sikka resigned and co-founder Nandan Nilekani returned as chairman of the company.

The Bengaluru-based firm reported a 3.3 percent rise in its Q2 net profit from Rs 3,606 crore an year ago. On a sequential basis , net profit rose 6.9 percent compared with Rs 3,483 crore in the last quarter.

The board declared an interim dividend of Rs 13 per share.

The firm cut its FY 18 revenue guidance to 5.5%-6.5% in constant currency.

Revenues came at Rs 17,567 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2017; quarter-on-quarter growth of 2.9% and year-on-year growth of 1.5% "

Operating profit was Rs 4,246 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2017, quarter-on-quarter growth of 3.3%  and year-on-year decline of 1.4%

On the search of the new CEO, the firm said : The process of identifying the next CEO and shareholder consultation outreach have been initiated and are  progressing well.

UB Pravin Rao, Interim CEO and Managing Director said, "We continue to focus on executing on the theme of software enabled services and on accelerating growth of our new services portfolio."

"During the quarter, we responded quickly to the management and Board changes through proactive communication with all stakeholders minimizing any negative impact to the business and allowing us to deliver growth across all our large industry units," Rao added.

"Our focus on improving operational efficiencies enabled us to deliver stable margins in the quarter and at the same time provide compensation increases and higher variable payouts to our employees." said MD Ranganath, CFO.

"We have taken several steps during the quarter towards our capital allocation policy covering Rs 13,000 crore share buyback, coupled with interim dividend of Rs 13 per share for enhancing shareholder returns," Ranganath added.

The earnings were announced after market hours. The stock closed 1.37 percent or 12.90 points lower at 926.75 on the BSE.

The company had posted 1.3 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 3,483 crore for the June quarter, helped by client wins in key markets, and raised its annual US dollar revenue outlook. Its revenue grew 1.7 per cent to Rs 17,078 crore in the first quarter of 2017-18 as against Rs 16,782 crore in the year-ago period.