8 key takeaways from Infosys' September quarter results

Infosys, India's second largest software services firm, reported 4.95 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 3,606 crore in the September quarter of fiscal year 2016-17 against Rs 3,436 crore in the June quarter, above Street expectations.

"Infosys results remained largely in line with expectations with a slight disappointment coming in on the guidance front," said Nikhil Kamath, Co-Founder & Head of Trading, Zerodha.

"The BFSI sector outlook remains robust  despite a challenging environment and the company claims to have bagged 6 large deals adding up to over $ 1.2 billion, we continue to hold a neutral bias over Infosys and would look over how the macro economic factors play out over the next year," he added.

Below are 8 key takeaways from Infosys' September quarter results:

1. Revenue guidance: Infosys cut FY17 revenue growth forecast to 8-9 per cent in constant currency terms, lower than the previously estimated 10.5-12 per cent for 2016-17. It lowered its dollar revenue guidance to 7.5-8.5 per cent from 10-11.5 per cent earlier.
2. Dividend: The company declared an interim dividend of Rs 11 per equity share. The date for payment of dividend has been fixed for October 24, 2016 and will be paid on October 26.
3. Earnings per share: The Earnings Per Share (EPS) stood at Rs 15.77 for the second quarter. The quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) growth was recorded at 4.9 per cent while the year-on-year (YoY) growth was 6.1 per cent.
4. Geographical growth: In North America, the company's sequential growth rose 2.6 per cent, while it grew 2.7 per cent in constant currency (cc) terms. Europe, India and the rest of the world saw a 1.1 per cent, 29.1 per cent and 6.5 per cent sequential growth and 3.7 per cent, 28.7 per cent and 5.2 per cent cc growth respectively.
5. Employee addition and attrition: The company added 12,717 people (at gross level) and 2,779 employees (net basis) from June quarter, taking its headcount to 1.99 lakh employees as on September 30, 2016. The attrition rate was at 20 per cent for the said quarter.
6. Clients addition: In Q2, the  company said it deepened its client relationships in core services, won large traditional deals, and focused on driving automation and grassroots innovation into every aspect of our service offerings through Infosys Mana and its Zero Distance initiative.
7. Board change: The Board of Directors at Infosys inducted DN Prahlad as an independent director w.e.f. October 14, 2016 on the recommendations of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee.
8. Revised pay packages: Infosys revised the pay packages of its top management, including Chief Operating Officer U B Pravin Rao and Chief Financial Officer M D Ranganath. The company said that the compensation included fixed compensation of Rs 4.62 crore per annum and a variable compensation of up to Rs 3.88 crore per annum. Additionally, based on fiscal 2016 performance, Rao will get 27,250 restricted stock units (RSU) and 43,000 stock options, vested over a period of 4 years.