Software services major Wipro on Wednesday refrained from giving any guidance for the first quarter of fiscal 2020-21, for the first time since it became a listed entity, following the uncertainty surrounding the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

The company said it did not have the visibility as to the extent to which COVID-19 would disrupt operations, and thus decided not to provide revenue guidance for the June 2020 quarter.

The company said it would resume providing revenue guidance once market visibility was restored in terms of both demand and supply-side factors.

As per Wipro’s estimates, its IT services revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 was negatively impacted by COVID-19 by $14-$16 million (0.7-0.8% of revenue). Wipro said most of its key customer geographies such as the U.S., U.K., Europe, West Asia and India were affected.

Revenue for the company rose 4.7% year-on-year (YoY) to ₹15,711 crore from the year-ago period.

The operating margin for the quarter came in at 17.6%, down 0.8% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ). However, it reported an almost 6% YoY fall in profit to ₹2,345 crore for the fourth quarter, compared with the corresponding quarter last year for its IT business.

Addressing the media via video-conferencing, Wipro CEO and MD Abidali Neemuchwala said: “Times are tough. Economic turbulence is just unfolding. Business decline will be more if the uncertainty continued. We are already seeing pricing pressures, cut in budgets and delayed decision cycles.

“Sectors such as energy, retail, manufacturing, automotive, banking and media will witness pressure.’’

‘Fluid situation’

He further said, “We are witnessing a very fluid situation, we really don’t know where it is going as of now. Recovery is a matter of time, but we don’t even know how long the uncertainty will continue. This is going to be much bigger than the global financial crisis we have seen.” Wipro currently has cash and cash equivalents of $3.5 billion, as per Jatin Dalal, chief financial officer.

“The quarters ahead seem challenging and require a tremendous response on costs.

We also expect our working capital to increase, but our strong balance sheet provides us with the confidence that we will emerge stronger and better. Due to the volatility in the external environment, we have decided not to provide a quarterly guidance on revenue,” said Mr. Dalal. Usually, the quarterly earnings are given first either by Infosys or TCS. This time, however, Wipro breasted the tape.