WASHINGTON: HCL Technologies Ltd.’s profit grew more than expected in the quarter ended March and the company maintained a healthy growth forecast for the ongoing financial year despite tougher visa norms in the U.S. Net profit rose 20 percent to Rs 2,475.3 crore over the previous quarter, according to the Ind-AS accounting standards. Analysts tracked by Bloomberg had pegged the bottomline at Rs 2,095 crore. Revenue rose 9.2 percent to Rs 11,814.2 crore, led by a 16.7 percent growth in its software services business. However, it missed the Rs 12,164 crore consensus estimate of analysts. Revenue in dollar terms rose 4.1 percent to $1.8 billion. Revenue from IT infrastructure and business processing outsourcing segments fell marginally. Earnings before interest and tax rose 4.6 percent to Rs 2,773.4 crore. EBIT margins, however, fell to 21.5 percent from 22.4 percent sequentially.
HCL Technologies expects revenue to grow in the 10.5 percent to 12.5 percent range in constant currency terms in financial year 2017-18, and 9.9 percent to 11.9 percent range in dollar terms. The company expects its operating margins to stay between 19.5 percent and 20.5 percent. The company is confident about achieving the guidance despite uncertainties including tougher H-1B visa rules in the U.S., C Vijayakumar, President and Chief Executive Officer of HCL Technologies told BloombergQuint in an interview. U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a review of H-1B visa programs to favor more skilled and highly paid applicants in April.
