Business process management (BPM) major WNS Holdings on Thursday reported a 6.7 per cent decline in net profit at USD 27.5 million (around Rs 206.2 crore) for the March 2021 quarter.
As per the general accounting standards, the company had registered a net profit of USD 29.5 million in the year-ago same period, WNS said in a statement.
The company's revenues fell 1.8 per cent to USD 243.9 million in the quarter under review, from USD 248.3 million in the year-ago period.
Sequentially, it increased 2.3 per cent from USD 238.4 million in the December 2020 quarter.
"Year-over-year, fiscal Q4 revenue was adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic including lower volume requirements from certain clients and service delivery constraints resulting from the transition to a 'work from home' delivery model," WNS said.
These headwinds more than offset the year-over-year revenue growth driven by new client additions, the expansion of existing relationships, and currency movements net of hedging, it added.
Sequentially, revenue improvement was driven by broad-based revenue growth and currency movements net of hedging, which more than offset a reduction in short-term revenue.
The company attributed the fall in fourth quarter profits (on year-on-year basis) to lower revenue driven by pandemic-related pressures and reduced high margin short-term revenue.
Additional profit reductions included business continuity costs, higher share-based compensation expense, and a higher effective tax rate driven by the geographic mix of profit.
Net profit was lower by 12.1 per cent at USD 102.6 million, while revenue fell by 1.7 per cent to USD 912.6 million in FY21 from the previous fiscal.
WNS Chief Executive Officer Keshav Murugesh said in the fourth quarter, the company posted healthy revenue, margin and free cash flow.
"While our full year results were adversely impacted by the global pandemic, we are pleased with our overall execution in a very difficult environment and our business momentum exiting the fiscal year," he added.
The company continued to add new clients and expand existing relationships at a healthy pace, helping drive revenue growth and margin expansion as the year progressed, he said.
"We believe this clearly demonstrates WNS' differentiated positioning in the market, the strategic importance of our solutions, and the resiliency of the BPM model.
"We are also extremely proud of the fact that we were able to achieve these results while protecting the safety and welfare of our more than 40,000 global employees, and continuing the strategic investment programs necessary to drive long-term sustainable value for all of our key stakeholders," he added.
WNS posted revenue less repair payments of USD 228.3 million, down 3.2 per cent from USD 235.8 million in the December 2020 quarter.
It now expects its revenue less repair payments to be between USD 945-997 million, up from USD 868.7 million in fiscal 2021.
WNS added nine new clients in the quarter and expanded 27 existing client relationships. Its global headcount stood at 43,997 as on March 31, 2021.
