BENGALURU: Wipro’s performance continues to lag that of its peers with a third consecutive quarter of decline in revenue. The company’s September quarter revenue declined 4.8% year-on-year and 2% sequentially, coming at the lower end of the guidance for the quarter.
In the December quarter, Wipro expects its revenue to grow between -3.5% and -1.5% in constant currency. The performance pushed the company’s share price down by nearly 3% in early trade on the NYSE. The results were announced after local stock markets had closed.
“We are not growing. What’s key for us is to make the right investments and decisions now to make sure that when the market picks up again, we are ready,” said Wipro CEO Thierry Delaporte.
He said the business environment has been uncertain. “Inflation has stayed high, as have interest rates. Clients are continuing to take a much more rigorous look at their investments. They are hyper-focused on efficiency, optimisation of existing investments, and faster return on new ones,” he said. The total value of contracts signed in the quarter was $3.8 billion, a 6% increase year-on-year. It closed $1.3 billion in large deal bookings, its highest in nine quarters. Two of these large deals were over $500 million in size.
Delaporte said lower discretionary spending is a reality today. “Conversion of order books has become slower. Transformation programmes that are nearing their project term are being replaced by new ones at a slower pace. All of this has impacted our topline growth. But we are continuing to hold margins steady,” he said. Operating margin was flat at 16.1% sequentially, but higher by 100 basis points on a year-on-year basis. The active customer base dropped sequentially to 1,393, from 1,444. While headcount dropped by 5,051 to 2.4 lakh employees, attrition dropped to 15.5% from 22.9% in the year-ago period.
In the December quarter, Wipro expects its revenue to grow between -3.5% and -1.5% in constant currency. The performance pushed the company’s share price down by nearly 3% in early trade on the NYSE. The results were announced after local stock markets had closed.
“We are not growing. What’s key for us is to make the right investments and decisions now to make sure that when the market picks up again, we are ready,” said Wipro CEO Thierry Delaporte.
He said the business environment has been uncertain. “Inflation has stayed high, as have interest rates. Clients are continuing to take a much more rigorous look at their investments. They are hyper-focused on efficiency, optimisation of existing investments, and faster return on new ones,” he said. The total value of contracts signed in the quarter was $3.8 billion, a 6% increase year-on-year. It closed $1.3 billion in large deal bookings, its highest in nine quarters. Two of these large deals were over $500 million in size.
Delaporte said lower discretionary spending is a reality today. “Conversion of order books has become slower. Transformation programmes that are nearing their project term are being replaced by new ones at a slower pace. All of this has impacted our topline growth. But we are continuing to hold margins steady,” he said. Operating margin was flat at 16.1% sequentially, but higher by 100 basis points on a year-on-year basis. The active customer base dropped sequentially to 1,393, from 1,444. While headcount dropped by 5,051 to 2.4 lakh employees, attrition dropped to 15.5% from 22.9% in the year-ago period.