India's Infosys profit up 25%, beats forecasts

Indian outsourcing giant Infosys reported Tuesday a better-than expected 25 percent jump in quarterly net profit, after winning new contracts in Europe and the United States. The company, India's second largest exporter of IT services, also forecast revenues to climb seven to nine percent in US dollar terms for the full year that started in April, driving up shares to as much as four percent. Consolidated net profit for the Nasdaq-listed firm climbed to 29.92 billion rupees ($496 million) in the January-March quarter compared to 23.9 billion rupees in the same period a year earlier. Analysts had expected Infosys to report a profit of 28.1 billion rupees. Consolidated revenue jumped 23 percent to 128.75 billion rupees in the fourth financial quarter from 104.54 billion rupees in the year-ago period, the company based in the southern city of Bangalore said. Infosys also said it had signed 50 new clients in the quarter including Chinese-owned Swedish carmaker Volvo. "We have guided for a revenue growth of 7%-9% next year and remain firmly focused on building the growth momentum by making all the necessary investments in our business," Infosys chief executive S.D. Shibulal said in the statement. Shares were up 3.21 percent at 3,339.70 rupees on the Bombay Stock Exchange after climbing as much as 4.20 percent to 3,371.80 rupees earlier Tuesday. The company said its attrition rate for the quarter rose 18.7 percent from 16.3 percent a year ago. Infosys has been undergoing major changes with a string of departures by some of its senior staff since co-founder and business icon N.R. Narayana Murthy returned last June in a bid to reboot the company's fortunes. Infosys -- created three decades ago by Murthy and six others as they sat around a kitchen table -- has been losing market share to rivals such as Tata Consultancy Services and HCL. Last October, Infosys said it would pay $34 million to the US government to settle an investigation into alleged visa fraud by the company. Many of India's IT outsourcing firms have reported subdued growth in recent years due to a sharp global economic slowdown.