Friday, April 22 2005 09:51 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: IT services major Wipro today (Apr 22, 2005) reported net profit of Rs 1894.8 crore, a jump of 58 per cent in 2004-05 over Rs 1203.2 crore in the previous fiscal.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)-listed Wipro posted revenues of Rs 8,169.8 crore, an increase of 39 per cent over Rs 5881.2 crore reported in 2003-04.

The Bangalore-based Wipro recommended bonus of one share to each share held by a shareholder while announcing a dividend of Rs 5 per share.

"Considering the emerging opportunities in the global market and our unique business model, the future outlook looks as exciting as journey has been so far," Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said in a statement.

Wipro posted net profits of Rs 433 crore and income of Rs 2,312.10 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 2005. Profits jumped by 58 per cent over Rs 320.8 crore and revenues by 39 per cent over Rs 1786.3 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

"Our differentiated model resulted in revenues from global IT services in Q4 at USD 375 million, ahead of our guidance of $ 370 Million," Wipro Vice Chairman Vivek Paul said.

Wipro projected income of $ 385 million from global IT services in the first quarter between April and June.

The IT firm added 2,520 people in the fourth quarter, to take its total employee strength to 41,857, which includes 26,184 in the IT services business and 15,673 people in the BPO operations.

"We were able to significantly offset the pressure on operating margins arising from currency appreciation and decrease in price realizations through improvement in utilization, increased proportion of offshore projects and continued operational improvements, "Wipro CFO Suresh Senapaty said.

Revenues from Wipro Infotech, the India and Asia Pacific IT services arm, stood at Rs 1396.4 crore and from the consumer care and lighting business, Rs 472.3 crore.