HCL posts 50% increase in Middle East revenue

HCL Technologies, India's fourth largest software services firm, posted a better-than-expected 50 per cent jump in Middle East revenues for April-June fiscal year to $45 million (Dh165 million), as all its verticals and geographies posted strong growth, said a top official. Virender Aggarwal, President and Head of APAC-MEA region for HCL Technologies, said Middle East contributed 9 per cent to the rest of the world (ROW) revenues. ROW, which comprises of APAC, Middle East, Asean, ANZ and Africa, posted a revenue increase of 69 per cent year-on-year to $612.7 million in fiscal year 2010-11. HCL's global revenues increased by 31.1 per cent to $3.54 million. Big deals Article continues below Banking sector continues to be the strong growth area and this fiscal year also it is expected to be the same. Government sector is gaining growth due to the high oil prices and especially in Saudi Arabia where HCL have closed many big deals. Going forward, he said the company hopes to maintain the same growth despite weak consumer sentiment. Volume growth is expected to remain muted as macroeconomic concerns weigh. Regional net income grew 31 per cent year-on-year while global net income grew 34.9 per cent to $378 million. "The growth in ROW region continues on the back of robust demand for enterprise services in CRM, ERS, data warehousing and infrastructure services. HCL's investment in emerging technologies like cloud computing and mobile technologies is beginning to create visibility and subsequent interest from enterprises for use of these models to gain greater flexibility, innovation and to maximise ROI [return on investment]," he said. "The macroeconomic situation continues to be worrisome...there is a need to be cautious. We have to be cautious since we are not going to get a tremendous volume growth from existing customers," he said. He said 70 clients added globally in last fiscal year and 15 from the Middle East.The company has 20 active clients in the UAE. He said Abu Dhabi continues to see strong growth and while growth in Dubai was not that strong. "I am confident that Dubai will pick up growth in the next six months. We are planning to open office in Qatar and Oman while the plan to open office in Bahrain last fiscal year has been delayed due to the political uncertainty and we will rework it after six months."