Infosys announces ₹9,200 crore share buyback; Q4 profit at ₹5,078 crore

Infosys, India's second largest Information Technology company, reported a 17.1% year-on-year rise in net profit at ₹5,078 crore (before minority interest) for the quarter ended in March on Wednesday. It posted ₹4,321 crore net profit in the same quarter last year. Gross profit for the quarter stood at ₹9,147 crore.

Revenue for the March quarter grew 13.1% year-on-year to ₹26,311 crore, the company said in the regulatory filing. Revenues in constant currency terms grew by 9.6% year-on-year.

The Bengaluru-based company also announced a share buyback of up to ₹9,200 crore at a maximum price of ₹1,750 per share, a premium of 25% to Tuesday’s closing price. This would be the be the third buyback by the IT behemoth in the last five years.

“FY21 was a landmark year with superior shareholder returns backed by robust operating metrics and strong growth across revenue, margins and free cash flows”, said Nilanjan Roy, chief financial officer. “Executing on our capital allocation policy, the company proposes to increase the total dividend per share by 54% over previous year and Buyback of Equity shares of up to ₹9,200 crore”, he added.

Infosys completed its first buyback of ₹13,000 crore in December 2017, comprising 11.3 crore equity shares at a price of ₹1,150 per share. In August 2019, it had bought back 11.05 crore shares under its ₹8,260 crore buyback offer, at an average price of ₹747.38 per equity share.

The company also announced a final dividend of ₹15 per share.

“Despite the disruptions, we continue to execute seamlessly with broad-based momentum across verticals. This has led to healthy volume growth and record utilization in a seasonally soft quarter,” said Pravin Rao, COO.

For the quarter ended March, the company reported consolidated operating margin of 24.5%. Total operating expenses for the company dropped 4.6% year-on-year in March quarter to ₹2,707 crore, it mentioned.

Infosys' revenue stood ₹100,472 crore for the financial year ended in March. The company’s operating margin rose 320 basis points to 24.5%, while its basic earnings per share grew 12.5 per cent.

“I am very pleased with our performance this year and incredibly proud of our employees for the passion and commitment they displayed despite a very tough environment. We have crossed a milestone of ₹100,000 crore in revenue in FY21. Our intense focus on client relevance, growing our digital portfolio with differentiated capabilities like Infosys CobaltTM, and empowering employees have helped us emerge as a preferred ‘partner-of-choice’ for our global clients. Our record large deal wins stand testimony to the effectiveness of this approach”, said Salil Parekh, chief executive officer and managing director, Infosys.

Infosys also guided for 12-14% sales growth in constant currency terms in 2021-22 and an operating margin band of 22-24%.“A strong momentum exiting FY21, alongside a focused strategy to accelerate client digital journeys, gives us confidence for a stronger FY22," Infosys CEO added.