Birlasoft Q1 profit up nearly 35% at Rs 56 cr

The company posted a profit of Rs 41.8 crore for April-June 2019, Birlasoft said in a regulatory filing. Revenue from operations grew 17.7 per cent to Rs 914.6 crore in the period under review from Rs 777.2 crore in the year-ago period.

Birlasoft, a part of the USD 2 billion diversified C K Birla Group, on Wednesday reported nearly 35 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 56.3 crore for the June 2020 quarter. The company posted a profit of Rs 41.8 crore for April-June 2019, Birlasoft said in a regulatory filing.

Revenue from operations grew 17.7 per cent to Rs 914.6 crore in the period under review from Rs 777.2 crore in the year-ago period. "Our Q1 results were better than what we had expected at the beginning of this pandemic quarter. Our healthy deal wins of USD 179.7 million and good pipeline across verticals and horizontals, coupled with strong cash collections is a testimony to the trust shown in us," Birlasoft Managing Director and CEO Dharmender Kapoor said.

He said one of the major reasons for the rise in net profit was the drop in other income. "Our other income has gone down because we moved our cash and money onto more safer instruments and because of that the impact is coming up," Kapoor added.

Kapoor said he was cautiously optimistic as there is still a lot of uncertainty amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "Clients aren't back in offices and are working from home and this uncertainty will probably remain for this quarter as well...But it is clear that the worst is behind us because the kind of wins we had this quarter. This was probably the second best quarter for us in the last six quarters, which is very encouraging," he said.

The company signed deals worth USD 179.7 million in total contract value (TCV) during the quarter. In dollar terms, the company's net profit grew 24.3 per cent to USD 7.5 million, while revenue was up 8.5 per cent to USD 121.2 million in June 2020 quarter from the year-ago period.

Birlasoft's headcount stood at 9,908 at the end of June quarter. The attrition rate was 16.5 per cent. The company also announced the appointment of Chandrasekar Thyagarajan as its Chief Financial Officer with effect from August 21, 2020.

Shares of the company settled at Rs 125.25 apiece, up 2.33 per cent from the previous close on BSE. "Birlasoft's June'20 quarter performance was strong across all operating parameters...Order intake during the quarter remained strong with new order wins...," Emkay Global Financial Services said in a report.