BENGALURU, July 16 (Reuters) – Indian software services provider Tech Mahindra’s first-quarter revenue beat expectations on Thursday, with growth in the firm’s manufacturing segment and a weak rupee helping the topline.
Revenue at India’s fifth-largest IT firm rose 17.7% year-on-year to 157.12 billion rupees ($1.63 billion) in the three months ended June 30. Analysts, on average, expected revenue of 154.76 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.
The company received an additional lift from the rupee’s roughly 9% depreciation against the dollar over the past 12 months, as Indian IT firms typically bill overseas clients in foreign currencies while bearing most of their costs in rupees.
The firm reported 28.5% year-on-year rise in profit in the quarter at 14.65 billion rupees, missing estimates of 15.63 billion rupees.
The communications division’s revenue, which accounts for a third of the Pune-based company’s total, rose 1.3%, while revenue at its manufacturing division – its second-largest, expanded 17.2% year-on-year.
Tech Mahindra’s net new order bookings rose to $1.08 billion from $809 million a year earlier. The firm announced partnerships with Telefonica Germany, Microsoft and robotics platform Viam during the quarter.
Last week, larger peers Tata Consultancy Services and HCLTech first-quarter results surpassed street expectations on account of strong tech spending among financial services clients.
Tech Mahindra shares closed 1.13% higher ahead of the results.
($1 = 96.3450 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Sai Ishwarbharath B and Surbhi Misra; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)
