Infosys Q4FY18 Net Profit Declines 28% At Rs 3,690 crores

India's second largest software services provider revealed its quarterly and full-year ended March 2018 results today with new CEO and MD Salil Parekh at the helm of the IT major. Some of the key announcements include:

Q4 Financials: Infosys reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 3,690 crores which was largely in line with street expectations. On a sequential basis, profits of the company declined by 28% due to a one-off tax gain in Q3FY18.

The revenue for the company rose by 1.6% QoQ to Rs 18,083 crores for the quarter ending March 31, 2018, again in line with estimates. In December qtr, company reported revenue of 17,794 crore.The revenue was higher by 0.6% sequentially in constant currency terms and 1.8% in dollar terms.

Dollar revenue at the company at $2,805 million, saw a growth of 1.8 percent. Operating margin remained at 24.3%

A final dividend of Rs 20.50 per equity share for the financial year ended March 31, 2018 and special dividend of Rs 10 per equity share has been recommended by the IT major.

Guidance for FY 19: For FY19, the company guided for a revenue growth of 6-8 per cent in constant currency terms. In dollar terms the company guided for 7-9 per cent revenue growth On the EBIT front, the company has downgraded its guidance to as against street expectations of 23-25%.

Capital allocation:The company decided to retain the current policy of returning up to 70% of the free cash flow of the corresponding financial year. It added,"in addition to the above, out of the cash on the Balance Sheet, the Board has identified an amount of up to Rs 130 billion to be paid to shareholders".

This will be done through a special dividend of Rs 10 per share (resulting in a payout of about Rs 26 billion in June 2018). Also, an amount of up to Rs 104 billion has been identified to be paid out to shareholders for the Financial Year 2019 in a manner to be decided by the Board.

Employee benefit: Infosys COO Pravin Rao in the announcement said the company will be increasing compensation for most of its workforce, effective April 1.

Management commentary: "Our robust performance is a reflection of the strong impact we have with our clients and the dedication of our employees. 'Navigating Your Next' is our aspiration of how we will partner with each one of our clients." said Parekh.

Roadmap ahead: The company will base its strategy around four pillars- scaling digital business, re-skilling employees, expanding its market in the US, Australia and Europe and energising client's core technology landscape via AI and automation.

Infosys to sell subsidiary companies Panaya and Skava