Wipro lags peers, revenue down nearly 5% in June…
“In Q1, we didn’t see a significant shift in demand environment. Clients remained cautious, and discretionary spending continued to be muted,” said Wipro CEO Srini Pallia at the earnings conference on Friday. “Banking & financial services retained their positive momentum from last quarter, and we have now seen growth in this sector for two consecutive quarters. The manufacturing and energy & utilities sectors continued to be weak with sequential declining by 3% and 6.3%, respectively.”
Wipro’s operating margin expanded by 10 basis points to 16.5% compared to the March quarter. This is also the lowest among the top four Indian IT firms. Pallia said Wipro is driving large deals momentum systematically across its client base. “We are shaping these opportunities by proactively engaging with influencers and partners. As a result, our pipeline for large deals remains robust,” he said. Wipro has had a soft quarter, bagging total contracts worth $3.3 billion compared to $3.6 billion in the March quarter. Large deals remained flat sequentially at $1.2 billion.
Despite the revenue decline in the first quarter of FY25, Wipro has revised its revenue forecast for the Sept quarter to -1% to 1%, from -1.5% to 0.5% it had guided previously. “There are put and takes in our guidance. Our guidance is based on the visibility we have. There is movement in the Americas (includes Latin America and the US). Capco has been growing for three quarters, and its bookings have grown year-on-year. On the other hand, there is softness in Europe and Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Africa (APMEA). Based on all these factors, we have provided guidance,” Aparna Iyer, the CFO of Wipro, said at the earnings press conference.
Pallia said the company is seeing some traction in the automotive, BFSI and the consumer sectors in the US and Europe, which gives them the confidence to achieve its guidance.