TCS in focus after Q4 results

On a consolidated basis, TCS' net profit, as per Indian GAAP, rose 3.3% to Rs 2895 crore on 0.4% rise in revenues to Rs 13259 crore in Q4 March 2012 over Q3 December 2011. TCS said it has become the first Indian IT company to cross the ten billion dollar milestone posting annual revenues of $10.17 billion. Commenting on the 2011-12 performance, N. Chandrasekaran, CEO and MD said, "We have carried our strong momentum through the fourth quarter to close out a year of strong growth. We have kept our focus on profitability and consolidated our market leadership." He added, "With our customer-centric approach, strong solution set and investments in game-changing technologies like mobility, big data and cloud, we remain well positioned to help our customers transform and drive growth in their businesses." Looking ahead to the financial year ending March 2013 (FY13), N Chandrasekaran said, "TCS is well prepared to achieve balanced growth across the industries and markets it operates in, given its holistic portfolio of services which are now achieving significant scale across markets." S Mahalingam, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director, said, "We have grown very well during 2011-12 and also been able to exit the year at the right margin levels, despite the marked increase in volatility during the past 12 months." He added: "Our focus is firmly fixed on the opportunities out there. So while maintaining our cost discipline at an operational level, we continue to invest in capacity and capability as we prepare for growth ahead." There was secular growth across markets and industries during the financial year. North America grew by 29.6% to cross $5 billion while Europe including United Kingdom grew by 33.8%. All industry verticals grew in double digits during the financial year ended March 2012 (FY12). TCS' full services capabilities continue to be leveraged by customers with new service lines growing at a fast pace - Infrastructure Services, Enterprise Solutions and Business Process Outsourcing service lines each clocked more than $ 1 billion in revenues in 2011-12. All other service lines also grew by double digits. UltraTech Cement's net profit rose 19.3% to Rs 867.32 crore on 18.9% increase in net sales to Rs 5336.59 crore in Q4 March 2012 over Q4 March 2011. The company produced 11.54 million tonnes (mt) in Q4 March 2012 against 10.70 mt in Q4 March 11, an increase of 8%. The combined cement and clinker sales was at 40.73 mt (39.74 mt) during the fiscal. The variable cost increased by 13% driven by high input and energy costs. The price of coal moved up sharply during the entire fiscal (between 30% and 150% in Q4 March 2012), the company said. Further, logistics cost also rose on account of the increase in railway freight, it added. The company said the profit margins of cement companies are expected to be adversely impacted due to the rising input cost. The surplus in supply is likely to continue for the next three years. However, the cement industry will grow over 8% linked to the Government's focus of infrastructure development, it said. The company's initiative towards setting up of additional clinker plants at Chhattisgarh and Karnataka together with grinding units, bulk packaging terminals and ready-mix concrete plants is progressing on schedule and are expected to be operational from early fiscal year ending March 2014. Consequently, the company's cement capacity will be enhanced by 10.2 mt a year. On a consolidated basis, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services' net profit rose 46.4% to Rs 242.39 crore on 47.6% increase in total income to Rs 891.48 crore in Q4 March 2012 over Q4 March 2011. Tata Sponge Iron's net profit declined 65.79% to Rs 14.65 crore on 7.28% decline in net sales to Rs 177.69 crore in the quarter ended March 2012 over the quarter ended March 2011. Sesa Goa, ING Vysya Bank, Petronet LNG, Blue Dart Express, among others, will declare their January-March 2012 quarter results today, 24 April 2012. HCL Technologies has won a product development deal from US-based GridPoint. As part of this multi-year deal, HCL will extend existing development efforts of GridPoint's software solutions to help accelerate the pace of delivering new capabilities to the market. The acceleration will help GridPoint meet the increased demand for smart energy solutions across the entire GridPoint product portfolio, including both utility and enterprise solutions. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Infosys has started a service with WPP Plc to help clients track marketing information on sites including Facebook Inc. (FB) and Twitter Inc. The pay-per-use service, called BrandEdge, will be hosted on the cloud, Infosys said in a statement. It contains tools that help users gather, organize and analyse consumer responses to online campaigns. The board of Rallis India approved acquiring 51% stake in Zero Waste Agro Organics, a Maharashtra-based organic manure and soil conditioners manufacturing company. The acquisition is an all cash deal aggregating to Rs 29 crore, funded largely through internal accruals. United Breweries said that its beer brand, Kingfisher, recorded sales of 100 million cases in the financial year ended March 2012. United Breweries said its market share now stands at over 50%. The Kingfisher brand is the largest selling beer brand in India.