India's Wipro announces record buyback after revenue miss
India’s Wipro announced a record share buyback of up to 150 billion rupees ($1.61 billion) on Thursday after reporting a slight quarterly revenue miss, as clients held back technology spending in the energy and banking sectors, while business from key customer Estée Lauder also slowed.
Consolidated sales for India’s fourth-largest software firm in the three months ended March 31 rose 7.7% to 242.36 billion rupees ($2.60 billion), falling short of analysts’ average estimate of 243.63 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
Last week, the country’s largest IT company, Tata Consultancy Services, reported quarterly revenue and profit that exceeded estimates, while easing concerns about artificial intelligence tools disrupting its core business.
French cosmetics major Estée Lauder brought Accenture in as an additional IT vendor in March, which reduced its contribution to Wipro’s revenue.
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The decline in Wipro’s revenue was further amplified as companies delayed technology spending amid the rollout of artificial intelligence-based tools and the Middle East conflict, which has increased geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty.
In February, the release of U.S. AI company Anthropic’s plugins—capable of automating certain finance and marketing functions—triggered a global tech selloff due to fears of disruption.
The Bengaluru-based IT firm forecast revenue for the current first quarter to range from a 2% decline to flat growth on a sequential basis, implying revenue between $2.6 billion and $2.65 billion.
Net profit declined 1.9% to 35.02 billion rupees for the quarter, slightly below analysts’ estimate of 35.07 billion rupees.
Three of Wipro’s five business verticals recorded declines, with the energy segment leading the drop at 5.9%. Its banking vertical, which is the largest and contributes roughly one-third of total revenue, also fell by 0.5%.
Total deal wins for Wipro stood at $3.5 billion, up from $3.33 billion in the previous quarter—a six-quarter low—but down from $4 billion a year earlier.
During the quarter, the company announced a deal with U.S. insurance provider TruStage, although it did not disclose the value of the contract.
By Nijat Babayev
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