Wipro announced improved revenue growth in the first quarter of fiscal 2018 beating market estimates buoyed by the revival of business in its main market the US as well as from banking clients.The Bengaluru-headquartered company has also forecast marginally higher revenue growth for the second-quarter of this fiscal year.
While first quarter profits grew 2.11 per cent to 2,120 crore, revenue rose 4.72 per cent to 14,307 crore.
It had reported profits of 2,076 crore on revenue of 13,661 crore in April to June last year.Going forward we will see growth.
We are not ready for a double digit growth yet, Wipro CEO Abidali Neemuchwala told ET.
In a post-earnings press conference the chief executive said the company was preparing for the future.This will take time.
We are not focusing on the top line alone.
We are focusing on quality of business we build which is sustainable in the future.For the quarter ended June 30, Wipros IT services revenue grew 0.3 per cent in constant currency to $2.02 billion.
In reported currency terms, Wipros revenue dropped 1.7 per cent sequentially.
Constant currency strips out the volatility due to currency fluctuation.
Revenue forecast was $2-2.04 billion.
Excluding the impact of the sale of its hosted data centre business, this translates to growth of 0.3-2.3 per cent sequentially in constant currency terms.
We believe volume growth and the order booking have been strong.
We believe from a guidance perspective the guidance incorporates what we see right now, Neemuchwala said.Sale of data centre business helped boost Wipros margin to 17.2 per cent, up from 14.4 per cent at end of March.
Wipro has reported a mixed first quarter.
While the IT services revenue was a beat, EBIT margin was a miss.
The revenue was in line with our forecast, Urmil Shah, analyst with IDBI Capital, said.There was nothing negative in this quarter, but Wipro is still a long way from catching up with the other companies.
It showed a growth in BFSI, which was also seen in other businesses, an analyst with a Mumbai-based brokerage said, He declined to be identified.Separately, Wipro announced it would pay $117 million to take over Alight HR Services India.