Wipro Q4 Results: Profit Dips, Board Okays Rs 12,000-Crore Buyback

Revenue growth at Wipro Ltd. declined in the March quarter amid eroding profitability, as global headwinds thwarted deal conversions across verticals.

India's fourth-largest IT services company saw revenue fall 0.17% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 23,190.30 crore in the quarter ended March 31, according to an exchange filing. That compares with Rs 23,460.30 crore consensus estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg.

Wipro Q4 Highlights FY23 (QoQ)

• Revenue drops 0.17% to Rs 23,190.30 crore (Bloomberg estimate: Rs 23,460.30 crore).

• Ebit down 0.89% at Rs 4,219.30 crore (Bloomberg estimate: Rs 3,738.59 crore).

• Ebit margin at 18.19% vs 18.33% (Bloomberg estimate: 15.94%).

• Net profit up 0.93% at Rs 3,093.5 crore (Bloomberg estimate: Rs 3,129.12 crore).

The revenue for the entire fiscal 2023 grew 14.4% to Rs 90,487.60 crore. However, net profit for the year dipped 7.16% to Rs 11,366.50 crore.

"We closed FY23 with the strongest ever bookings recorded in a year. We delivered two consecutive quarters of total bookings of over $4.1 billion. Our large deal order booking grew by 155% year-over-year for the quarter," said Wipro's CEO Thierry Delaporte.

"Compared to just a few years ago, we are seeing a visible change in the structure of our deals and our market position. We are winning large transformation deals, benefiting from a consolidating market, and deepening relationships with existing clients,” he said

"We continue to maintain our focus on operational improvements and productivity enhancements which led to our IT services margin exit at 16.3% in Q4 despite macro headwinds. We generated strong operating cash flows at 121% of our net income for the quarter," said Jatin Dalal, chief financial officer at Wipro.

Order Book Growth

Wipro saw total contract value of $4.1 billion, with 29% year-on-year growth in constant currency terms during the quarter under review.

Of the overall order book, the IT bellwether closed 15 large deals, resulting in a TCV of over $1.1 billion, with 155% growth year-on-year in constant currency terms during the March quarter.

Number of customers in the over $100 million and over $75 million baskets remained unchanged from the previous quarter at 19 and 29, respectively. The company added 63 new customers during the period, but its overall customer base shrank by 43 to 1,441 during the March quarter as compared with the previous quarter.

Attrition Moderates, Headcount Dips

At the end of the March quarter, Wipro had a total headcount of 2,56,921 employees, lower than 2,58,744 recorded in the December quarter.

Voluntary attrition moderated during the period under review to 19.2%, from 21.2% in the preceding quarter.

The company has onboarded 22,000 new associates during fiscal 2023.

Wipro Declares Rs 12,000-Crore Buyback

The board of directors also approved a proposal to buyback 26.97 crore shares, representing 4.91% shareholding of the company. The IT major will pay Rs 445 per share, marking a premium of 18.87% on the April 27 closing price of Rs 374.35.

The total buyback size will be around Rs 12,000 crore.

The buyback—subject to investors' approval—is proposed to be made from existing Wipro shareholders, including persons who became shareholders by cancelling American Depository Receipts and receiving underlying equity shares, as on the record date, on a proportionate basis under tender offer route, the company said in its statement.

Outlook For June Quarter

Wipro expects revenue from IT services business, including India State Run Enterprise segment, to be in the range of $2,753 million to $2,811 million. This translates to sequential guidance of -3.0% to -1.0% in constant currency terms.

Wipro Shares Dip

On Thursday, Wipro shares fell 0.04% to Rs 374.35 apiece on the BSE, even as the benchmark Sensex ended the day 0.58% higher at 60,649.38 points. The quarterly results were declared after market hours.