By Reuters | Updated: April 26, 2024
BENGALURU, April 26 (Reuters) – HCLTech (HCLT.NS), India’s No.3 IT services player, reported a smaller-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue on Friday amid decelerating tech spending among clients due to macro-overhang.
The company posted a 7.1% rise in revenue to 284.99 billion rupees ($3.42 billion) for the three months ended March 31, compared with average analysts’ estimates of 286.07 billion rupees, as per LSEG data.
The technology and services vertical fell 8.7% year-on-year, while healthcare and lifesciences vertical fell 1%.
For the financial year 2025, the company forecast a revenue growth of 3%-5%.
As clients prioritise deals focussed on cost-cutting, they continue to hold back on non-essential spending such as cloud services, consulting and upgrading of existing software.
Additionally, an uncertain macroeconomic climate and geopolitical uncertainties have kept demand in India’s $254 billion IT industry subdued.
Peers Infosys (INFY.NS), Tech Mahindra (TEML.NS), TCS (TCS.NS) LTIMindtree (LTIM.NS) missed analysts’ estimates, while Wipro (WIPR.NS) topped estimates.
For the quarter, the company’s net profit was flat at 39.86 billion rupees compared with the year-ago period. Analysts, according to LSEG data, estimated a profit of 41.10 billion rupees.
HCLTech’s new deal wins stood at $2.29 billion, compared with $1.93 billion in the previous quarter and $2.07 billion in the year-ago period.
Operating margins came in at 17.6%, down 50 bps due to higher wage costs.
($1 = 83.3552 Indian rupees)
@ Thomson Reuters 2024
