Shares of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) climbed as much as 3.56 per cent to Rs 2,085.60 apiece in the early morning trade on the BSE after the company posted stellar numbers for the March quarter of financial year 2018-19 (FY19).
The country’s largest IT services company crossed the $20-billion revenue mark for the first time in the quarter. Growth in net profit, as well as revenue, exceeded Street expectations, though margin contracted a bit in the fourth quarter.
For the quarter ended March 31, TCS reported Rs 8,126 crore in net profit, a jump of 17.7 per cent over the corresponding quarter last year. Revenue, at Rs 38,010 crore, saw an increase of 18.5 per cent on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis.
Compared with the trailing quarter, net profit was almost flat, while revenue grew 1.8 per cent.
Operating profit margins for Q4 as well as the full year, however, were marginally lower than the expectations and came below the guided range of 26-29 per cent. In the quarter under review, margins at 25.1 per cent saw a 50 basis point decline over the previous quarter, while margins for the full year stood at 25.6 per cent, up 79 bps.
TCS continued to witness strong growth in its digital business, which accounted for 31 per cent of the overall revenue. Banking, financial services & insurance, which lagged other verticals, rebounded to double-digit growth with an increase of 11.6 per cent in the March quarter, although for the full year, it was 7.7 per cent.
At 10:12 am, the stock was trading 2.63 per cent higher at Rs 2,066.70 apiece on the BSE as compared to a 0.21 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex at 38,847.70 level.