Oct. 11: Mastek Ltd has posted a 42.15 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 17.94 crore for the quarter ended September 30 from Rs 12.62 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

The total income increased 42.48 per cent to Rs 124.13 crore from Rs 87.12 crore from the year-ago period, Mastek has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

While the group’s total income increased to Rs 198.92 crore from Rs 153.09 crore for the year-ago period, it posted a net profit after tax and minority interest of Rs 21.19 crore for the quarter, compared with Rs 15.02 crore last year.

During the quarter, revenues from European operations grew by 42 per cent over the corresponding quarter last year while revenues from US operations increased by 35 per cent in the same period.

At present, Europe contributes 65 per cent and US contributes 19 per cent to the group revenue.

Mastek expects the group income to be in the range of Rs 204 to 209 crore in the October-December quarter and net profit after tax and minority interest to be in the range of Rs 21.5 to 22.5 crore.

Chief executive officer Sudhakar Ram said, “I am happy with the results achieved this quarter, especially with the UK and US operations registering strong growth. Although the order booking was below expectations, I do see a significant up-shift in the next quarter, based on a strong pipeline.”

“Our margins have improved if you exclude the joint venture with Deloitte Consulting. The margins have improved from 16.2 per cent to 16.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter and from 15 per cent to 16.2 per cent year-on-year. But overall, due to the drag of the Deloitte JV, margins have come down from 16.5 per cent to 16.2 per cent quarter-on-quarter,” Jamshed Jussawalla, CFO said to The Telegraph.

The shares of the company were today trading at Rs 374.05, up 4.86 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

iGate earnings rise

IT services provider iGate Global Solutions has reported an 80 per cent year-on-year increase in net profit to Rs 10.6 crore in the second quarter ended September 30, 2006.

Revenues increased by 30 per cent to Rs 202.6 crore, the company said.

Igate attributed the increase in net profit vis-a-vis revenues to better margins and higher billing rates from bigger clients.

“Margins are improving as a direct result of strategy of targeting fortune 1,000 clients and higher price points,” iGate chief executive officer Phaneesh Murthy said.

“Existing clients are ramping up their business with us and we have also added a number of new clients. We have reached a good, sustainable growth model,” he added.

The company is expecting a substantial increase in EBIDTA margins.

“By the end of March 2007 quarter, we are expecting an EBIDTA of 25 per cent from 10 per cent at present,” Murthy said. He said GE renewed its contract with the company for three years during the quarter.

In the second quarter, the company added 10 clients, of which five belong to ‘fortune 1,000’ club. The number of clients with billing rate of more than $1 million has gone up to 26 from 23.

The company also added 400 employees during the quarter to take the total to 550.