Infosys upbeat on revenue forecast due to strong digital services demand
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By Sankalp Phartiyal
NEW DELHI - Indian software services firm Infosys on Wednesday forecast annual revenue growth of 12% to 14% in constant currency terms for the year to end March 2022, buoyed by client demand for its digital services amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Chief Executive Salil Parekh told reporters at an online news conference that in sectors from insurance and utilities to consumer products and banking, "there are new ways that our clients are looking to connect with their customers to grow their business".
"(That) is where our support comes in," he said. "All of that really translates to good demand and good demand is translating for us to a very strong revenue guidance."
Bengaluru-headquartered Infosys reported a 17.5% rise in net profit to 50.76 billion rupees ($675.4 million) in the three months to March 31. That compared with an average analysts' estimate based on Refinitiv data of 51.93 billion rupees.
Profit was boosted by large deals worth a total $2.1 billion in the quarter and an addition of 130 clients, up from 84 additions in the same period last year.
Infosys said revenue for the quarter rose to 263.11 billion rupees from 232.67 billion rupees.
The company recommended a final dividend for the year of 15 rupees per share, and said it would approve a share buyback of up to 92 billion rupees. Its shares hit a record high on Monday after it said it was considering such a move.
Bigger rival Tata Consultancy Services posted a 15% jump in profit on the back of cloud services demand, while smaller counterpart Wipro reports results on Thursday.
Infosys shares ended 2% down on Tuesday, against a 1.4% gain for the broader Mumbai market.
($1 = 75.1570 rupees)
(Corrects last paragraph to give closing price for Tuesday, not Wednesday, which is a market holiday)
(Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal in New Delhi; Additional reporting by Shivani Singh and Chris Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by David Goodman and Jan Harvey)
