Beating it’s own global IT services revenue forecast of $905 million, software major Wipro has announced revenues of $910 million for the third quarter of the current fiscal year, and also dispelled doubts over continued revenue growth in the last quarter due to US economy slowdown.Wipro chairman Azim Premji, who called the Q3 results “satisfying”, has projected revenue from the global IT business to be around $955 million for the last quarter of the fiscal year. In results announced on Friday, Wipro registered total revenues of Rs 5,303 crore from all its businesses and a profit after tax of Rs 854 crore, a growth of 33 per cent and 11 per cent respectively over the same period last year. On a sequential basis the revenue and profit growth was logged at a more sluggish 9 per cent and 2 per cent respectively. The global IT business of the company continued to be the primary growth driver with Rs 3,614 crore in revenue and Rs 744 crore in profits before interest and tax - growth of 11 per cent and 4 per cent each over Q2 of the current fiscal.“We continue to see good momentum in all our businesses. Organically, our margins remained flat despite an appreciating rupee and increased costs on account of wage hikes affected. We continue to win large deals and have a healthy pipeline of these deals as we move into the new calendar year,” the Wipro chairman said.The company also reported strong growth in its IT business for the Asia Pacific, Middle East and India with profits growing by nearly 50 per cent over last year at Rs 76 crore. “We have started investing in the Middle East and Asia over the last three years and are seeing very string traction for our solutions and services in these markets as well,” Premji said.The US remains the key market for the company, while Europe has also shown growth, he said, adding that he did not see US slowdown as a cause for concern over. “In terms of business environment, the US economy in general and the financial services sector worldwide in particular are facing challenges. However, we have not seen any impact on our business so far. We continue to see good demand for our services and believe that the Global Delivery Model is enduring,” Premji stated.HDFC net up 48.5% in third quarterMUMBAI: High interest rates and real estate prices have failed to have any impact on the bottomline of housing finance major HDFC. Riding on the real estate boom, HDFC posted net profit of Rs 527.93 crore during the third quarter ended December, up 83 per cent over Rs 355.49 crore in the same quarter last year. As the company made a profit of Rs 121 crore on selling 5 per cent stake in HDFC Standard Life Insurance to joint venture partner Standard Life of UK, the final net profit for Q3 works out to Rs 648.93 crore, a rise of 83 per cent over the previous year.The income from operations during the quarter was up smartly at Rs 2154 crore against Rs 1,457 crore during the same period last year, the company said on Friday. The earning per share for the quarter stood at Rs 24.10.The company more than sustained the growth rate. Loan approvals during the nine months ended December 31, aggregated to Rs 29,376 crore as compared to Rs 22,666 crore during the corresponding period in the previous year, up 30 per cent. Disbursements during this period amounted to Rs 22,285 crore as compared to Rs 17,465 crore during the corresponding period last year, a rise of 28 per cent. For the nine-month period, the company’s posted profit after tax of Rs 1,668.13 crore against Rs 1,020.33 crore in the corresponding period of last fiscal. The total loan portfolio as of December 31 was worth Rs 68,151 crore against Rs 54,633 crore the year before. The non-performing assets were marginal at 1.12 per cent of the total loan portfolio.ITC records 15.8% profitsKOLKATA: FMCG major ITC has posted an increase of 15.8 per cent in the profit after tax and 11 per cent in the net sales during the third quarter of the current financial year, compared to the corresponding period last fiscal.The company’s net profit stood at Rs 831 crore, while net sales stood at Rs 3,458 crore during the quarter, ITC said. The company registered a 50 per cent growth in revenues from newer businesses in the FMCG sector such as food, lifetsyle, retailing and stationery. Revenues from hotels, paperboard and packaging business also clocked healthy growth. ITC, however, witnessed a muted growth in the cigarette business due to ‘significant rise in taxation incidence’.Pre-tax profit for the quarter stood at Rs 1,226 crore, registering a growth of 15.5 per cent during the third quarter as compared to the same period last fiscal. Earnings per share of the company for the quarter stood at Rs 2.21. ITC said its corporate strategy was to create multiple growth drivers. It was currently focused on four business sectors like — FMCG, hotels, paperboards, paper and packaging and agri-business.
