India's NIIT FY98 Profit Rises 60% to 1.08 Bln Rupees reports Bloomberg. (Update2)
New Delhi, Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- India's NIIT Ltd., said it
plans to give free shares to shareholders after its profit rose
60 percent in the year ended Sept., boosted by global demand for
Indian programmers and training.
The software developer and training company said it expects
profit to expand by 35 percent in fiscal 1999.
For the year ending Sept. 30, NIIT said net profit rose to
1.08 billion rupees ($25 million), or 42.06 rupees a share, from
679 million rupees, or 26.35 rupees, a year ago.
The 10 analysts surveyed by IBES International predicted
that NIIT would announce an earnings per share of 37.88 rupees. A
17 percent decline in the rupee, against the dollar helped boost
profit, by 7 percent to 8 percent, it said.
''Indian (software) companies are cheaper and more
competitive, so (foreign customers) turn to India to get more
bang for their buck,'' said Aditya Srinath, an analyst at S.S.
Kantilal Ishwarlal Securities Pvt. in Mumbai.
NIIT said it plans to give shareholders one free share for
every two they hold. It will also pay a dividend of 3.75 rupees a
share compared to 3.50 rupees a year earlier.
Sales rose 41 percent to 4.57 billion rupees, from 3.25
billion rupees.
The company said it plans to spend $100 million in the
current fiscal year to buy U.S.-based software companies as it
expands into developed markets. It said it has short-listed about
15 companies in the U.S. whose profiles meet its expectations.
Apart from growing ''organically, we need to look at
alternate avenues like acquisition of a U.S.-based software
project services company,'' said Rajendra Pawar, vice chairman.
The company may eventually list its shares in the U.S. in
the coming two years, he said.
International Focus
The software maker said it intends to focus on
telecommunications, manufacturing, financial services and E
(electronic) commerce as areas of growth for the future.
NIIT also intends to generate 67 percent of its revenues
from the international markets in the next four to five years.
Currently, the Indian market accounts for 50 percent of revenues.
The company also said it has postponed its plan to raise the
holding limit of foreign institutional investors to 30 percent
from 24 percent, given the weakness in the equity market. NIIT
said that one of its key investors, Shiv Nadar, has said he won't
be selling a 6 percent stake in the company, as reported earlier.
NIIT shares were 24.75 rupees higher at 1241.75 when trading
closed at the Mumbai Stock Exchange before the earnings
announcement.
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