Infosys Says Profit Jumped 44 Percent

Chief Executive Officer of Infosys Technologies Ltd. Nandan M. Nilekani reacts as he replies to a question at a press conference to announce the financial results for the fiscal first quarter in Bangalore, India, Wednesday, July 12, 2006. Infosys said its net profit jumped 50.4 percent in the April-June quarter, driven by strong growth in outsourcing orders. It also raised its revenue and earnings forecast for the fiscal year through March 2007. (AP Photo/ Gautam Singh) (Gautam Singh - AP)

BANGALORE, India -- Infosys Technologies Ltd. said Wednesday its net profit jumped 44 percent in the April-June quarter, driven by strong growth in outsourcing orders. It also raised its revenue and earnings forecast for the fiscal year through March 2007.

The better-than-expected results helped support the Indian stock market amid fears that shares would plummet following a series of train bombs that rocked Bombay the previous evening, killing at least 190 people.

The benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange, the 30-share Sensex, rose 314 points, or 3 percent, to finish at 10,928.

Infosys Technologies' net profit for fiscal first quarter rose to $174 million from $122 million in the year-ago period, beating the average estimate of 33 percent growth predicted by a Dow Jones Newswires poll of 18 analysts.

The company's revenue, or total income from software services, for the quarter expanded 38.7 percent to $660 million from $476 million, helped by the addition of 38 new clients.

The figures released by the Nasdaq listed company are based on U.S. accounting standards. The company also released another set of figures based on Indian accounting standards which showed net profit increased 50.4 percent and revenues rose to 45.6 percent.

The discrepancies in the figures was attributed to the difference in accounting standards and a depreciation in the value of rupee against the dollar. The rupee has dropped about 6 percent in the past year.

"We benefited from the depreciation of the rupee against all major currencies during the quarter," Chief Financial Officer V. Balakrishnan said in a statement.

Infosys also raised its expectations for full-year revenue to between $2.91 billion and $2.92 billion.

The company said it expects earnings per share on Nasdaq to increase in the range of 32.4 percent to 33.8 percent to between $2.7 and $2.73 for the fiscal year ending March 2007.