NEW DELHI – Indian software company HCL Technologies Ltd. said Monday its profit in the most recent quarter doubled from a year ago, thanks to a slew of new outsourcing orders that more than offset the impact of a stronger rupee.
Net profit in the April-June quarter more than doubled to 4.87 billion rupees ($119.5 million) from 2.33 billion rupees a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Sales rose 28.5 percent to 16.12 billion rupees ($395.7 million), helped by the addition of 20 new clients, it said.
The company’s president, Vineet Nayar, said HCL Technologies won a contract valued at more than $35 million from New Zealand dairy company Fonterra. Other wins included multiyear and multi-services contracts from Italy’s Alenia Aeronautica and imaging company Konica Minolta, Nayar said.
The earnings numbers, which conform to Indian accounting standards, surpassed analysts’ expectations.
HCL Technologies – India’s fifth-largest software exporter – said its efforts over the past two years to explore business outside the United States helped the company tide over the impact of the rupee’s strength. Hedging also helped.
Most of its bigger rivals earlier reported lower profit growth because of the rupee’s sharp appreciation against the U.S. dollar.
HCL Technologies said the share of the United States in total sales dropped to 54 percent from 58 percent a year ago. In recent years, the company has won new customers in Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Its sales in Australia and New Zealand in the year ended June 30 doubled from a year ago, said Nayar.
HCL Technologies said its profit in the full year ended June 30 rose 90 percent to 13.2 billion rupees ($302 million). Annual sales totaled 60.7 billion rupees ($1.4 billion), up 33 percent from a year ago.
The company plans to spend $150 million in the current financial year to set up new centers and expand capacity, Nayar said. It plans to hire 25,000 employee through this year.
As on June 30, HCL technologies employed 42,000 people, including 1,868 added in the latest quarter.
