Raju: Aiming high

Hyderabad, July 21: Satyam Computers Services Ltd has posted an 18.76 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 206.04 crore for the quarter ended June 30 compared with Rs 173.48 crore in the corresponding previous quarter.

Total income has increased 31.85 per cent to Rs 1,057.81 crore from Rs 802.26 crore a year ago, Satyam informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. The consolidated profit after taxation and share of loss in associate company stood at Rs 190.19 crore compared with Rs 163.74 crore in the same period last year.

Total income has increased to Rs 1,082.12 crore from Rs 810.72 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Addressing reporters here today, chairman B. Ramalinga Raju said he was disappointed that the company’s quarterly revenue was just $1 million short from $1 billion. “I am disappointed that we failed to add $1 million more to our revenue in this quarter, which otherwise would have put us in the billion-dollar club.”

The country’s fourth largest software exporter will focus on consulting, enterprise business solutions and data warehousing, Raju added. “These businesses contribute 37 per cent to our revenue.” Attrition rate at Satyam is around 16.5 per cent.

Satyam will continue to focus on Europe and the Asia-Pacific markets, as they have reported a sequential growth rate of 11 per cent and 14 per cent respectively.

Satyam said it added 31 clients in the last quarter, and 1,341 staff, taking its total headcount to 20,505 people in the main computer services firm, while back-office service subsidiary Nipuna added 245 people to take its count to 1,612.

“Our objective is to add a maximum of 4,500 to 5,000 associates at a cost of Rs 175 crore during the fiscal,” said V. Srinivas, chief financial officer of the group.

The company has given a revenue guidance of Rs 4,536 crore to Rs 4,569 crore for this year, projecting a growth rate of 29-30 per cent.

Singapore buy

Satyam will acquire Singapore-based Knowledge Dynamics for up to $5.6 million, topping up a $39 million buyout of UK-based consultant Citisoft in the previous quarter. The company specialises in business intelligence from data analysis. The deal is likely to be completed by August.