Infosys logs 7% rise in Q3 profit

Mumbai, Janaury 13

IT major Infosys today narrowed its full-year revenue guidance range after posting a better-than-expected 7% rise in third-quarter profit that was helped by 77 new client wins.

Net profit rose to Rs 3,708 crore ($544.03 million) for the three months ended December 31, 2016 from Rs 3,465 crore a year earlier, ahead of the Rs 3,544 crore on average expected by analysts.

The company’s revenue in the third quarter rose 8.6% to Rs 17,273 crore, roughly in line with analysts' estimates of 17,301 crore.

The company said it expected the revenue to grow between 8.4% and 8.8% in constant currency terms in the fiscal year to March. Its earlier guidance was for an increase of between 8% and 9% in full-year revenue.

Infosys and TCS use H1-B visas to fly developers and engineers to the US to service clients. But a more protectionist US visa regime could force them to hire more from local university campuses and speed up acquisitions, increasing costs.

Infosys Chief Executive Vishal Sikka, who took the helm of the company two years ago, told a news conference that they were preparing for possible changes in the visa regime.

"It is an integral part of our strategy to become less dependant on visas over time and become more local in our approach," Sikka said.

Infosys will speed up buyouts in the US and recruit heavily from university campuses there to beat a more protectionist visa regime expected under Trump's regime, company's COO Pravin Rao said in October. — Reuters