HCL Infosystems profit slides 37%

HCL Infosystems on Tuesday reported a 37 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 34.92 crore for the second quarter ended December.

The company posted Rs 55.98 crore net profit for the same period in the last financial year.

Gross sales of the company also declined by 14.62 per cent at Rs 2,692.58 crore during the reported quarter compared to Rs 3,153.73 crore it posted for the same period a year ago.

"Due to the ongoing challenging environment, business growth in this quarter has not been as per expectations," HCL Infosystems Chief Executive Officer Harsh Chitale said in a statement.

He added that the company has been affected, like the rest of the industry, on account of uncontrolled circumstances like rupee depreciation and natural calamities like floods in Thailand leading to scarcity of computer components.

"...it thereby impacted market availability and also increased costs," Chitale said.

Due to steep rise in forex rates, the company had to refuse or defer certain orders which would have added to its revenue and profitability, the statement said.

"As a result of the above, the overall estimated impact on company's margin due to forex fluctuation was Rs 48 crore during the quarter and Rs 80 crore during the first half of FY2011-12," the statement added.

"We expect this situation to stabilise in the January- March, 2012 quarter, as market prices are expected to start reflecting the increase in costs," Chitale said.