L&T Technology Services (LTTS) on Monday reported a 19 per cent decline in September quarter net profit at Rs 165.5 crore, as revenues from operations declined amid the pandemic.
The company had reported a net profit of Rs 206.2 crore in the year-ago period. It had reported a bottomline of Rs 117.2 crore in the preceding June quarter, when the COVID-19 pandemic had struck.
Total income declined to Rs 1,370.4 crore ion the July-September quarter from Rs 1,449 crore in the year-ago period.
Its chief executive and managing director Keshab Panda said when compared on a sequential basis, there has been an all-round increase, including in revenue segments and also profitability, and exuded confidence that the company will be able to maintain the performance.
In a statement, the company said the dollar revenue grew 4.1 per cent to USD 178 million during the three-month period, and rose 1.5 per cent in rupee terms. The operating margin expanded 1.60 per cent to 13.7 per cent as compared to the June quarter.
Panda said the margin expansion was possible because of the business mix, where the composition of the high-margin business has grown, while staff utilisation levels have gone up 4 percentage points within a quarter to 75 per cent.
Making it clear that the company is not reducing headcount or going slow on investments in technologies, Panda said it will be giving out the deferred pay hikes "partly" in the March 2021 quarter itself.
He sounded concerned about the changes in rules governing H1-B visas in the key market of the US where it has substantial number of employees, but said it may not have high impact on the business.
The LTTS scrip rose 1.26 per cent to close at Rs 1,750.55 apiece on the BSE on Monday as against a 1.12 per cent jump in the benchmark.
