IT services giant HCL Technologies on Wednesday reported a 18.50 per cent growth in its net profit at Rs 300.75 crore for the first quarter ended September 30, 2009.
The IT firm had a net profit of Rs 253.79 crore in the September quarter of last fiscal, HCL Technologies said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Total income rose to Rs 1,295.19 crore during the July-September quarter from Rs 1,225.66 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.
"Though there are signs of an early recovery in sectors like financial services, we continue to be cautious. We hope to see sustained recovery only by next year," HCL Tech Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer Shiv Nadar said.
The board has declared an interim dividend of 50 per cent at the rate of Rs one a piece on shares of face value of Rs two.
At the end of September 30, HCL Tech's total employee strength stood at 54,443. The company added 665 professionals in the IT services segment during the period.
"We continue our investments in new services, emerging markets, best in class discrete services and total IT outsourcing coupled with our focus on employee engagement and customer satisfaction, which has stood us well," HCL Tech CEO Vineet Nayar said.
During the quarter, revenue from software services declined nine per cent to Rs 937.13 crore.
The revenue from business process outsourcing stood at Rs 114.88 crore, down 18 per cent over the same period last fiscal, while network services' revenue rose 37-fold to Rs 195.31 crore during the period.
"HCL is poised to take advantage of the upcoming market opportunities," Nadar said.
The board has also recommended the appointment of S R Batliboi & Co, Chartered Accountants as statutory auditors of the company in place of retiring auditor Price Waterhouse.
As per US accounting rules, HCL Technologies reported a consolidated net income of $66.5 million for the quarter ending September 30, a 12 per cent decline over the year-ago period. The company had a net income of $75.8 million in the September quarter of FY'09.
Total revenue rose to $630.1 million during the quarter from $500.9 million in the year-ago period.
Shares of HCL Tech were trading with a gain of three per cent over previous close at Rs 329 on the BSE.