Profits Climb at Infosys
Updated from 10:53 a.m. EDT
SAN FRANCISCO -- Fourth-quarter profit jumped at
Infosys Technologies
(INFY) - Get Infosys Limited American Depositary Shares Report
, and the company raised its future dividend payout ratio.
The Bangalore-based integration and outsource company said Tuesday that revenue rose 32% to $1.14 billion from $863 million for the same period of last year.
Net income was up 20% to $311 million, or 54 cents a share, from $259 million, or 45 cents a share, in the year-ago period.
American depositary shares of Infosys were up $2.39, or 6.5%, to $38.95 in recent trading.
The company posted a special dividend of 20 rupees a share (50 cents at current exchange rates) and a final dividend of 7.25 rupees (18 cents) a share. Going forward, the board increased its dividend ratio to 30% of net profit, from 20%, the company said.
For the first quarter, the company projected year-over-year revenue growth of 23%, to a range of $1.142 million to $1.145 million, and EPS of 52 cents. For the same quarter of 2007, Infosys had revenue of $928 million and EPS of 46 cents.
For the full fiscal year, revenue growth of 19% to 21% is expected, for a range of $4.97 billion and $5.05 billion. EPS will grow by 16.7% to 18.7%, to a range of $2.31 to $2.35. For fiscal 2008, revenue was $4.176 billion and EPS was $2.02.
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For the year just ended, the company posted a bottom line of $1.16 billion.
"Our special dividend payment is to celebrate the achievement of the $1 billion net income milestone," CFO V. Balakrishnan said in a statement. "We also have successfully maintained our margins during the year, despite an 11% appreciation in the rupee."
Know What You Own
: INFY operates in the technical and system software industry, and some of the other stocks in its field include
Satyam Computer Services
(SAY)
and
Wipro
(WIT) - Get Wipro Limited Report
. These stocks were recently trading at $24.38, +8.02% and $11.69, +4.94%, respectively. For more on the value of knowing what you own, visit TheStreet.com's
section.
