HCL Tech Q4FY21 results: Revenue, Profit, Dividend, Margin, Guidance and more

• Profit below estimates: HCL Tech has reported a 26% on-quarter decline in consolidated net profit to ₹2,962 crore in Q4FY21, missing analyst estimates. Analysts had earlier estimated a profit of about ₹3,150 crore.
• Revenue rises: HCL Tech’s revenue grew  1.8% on-quarter to ₹19,642 crore. Revenue in dollar terms increased by 3% to $2,696 million, against $2,712 million estimated earlier. The revenue was supported by robust deal wins in the quarter.  The growth in the topline of the company was led by financial services and lifesciences verticals, which grew 3.3% and 6.6% on-quarter, respectively.
• Margin declines: EBIT Margin contracted to 17.95% in Q4FY21 from 22.98% in the previous quarter. Wages, new hirings and adverse forex movement weighed on the company’s margins in the quarter. Operating profit declined 20.53% to Rs 3,526 crore.
• Robust Guidance: HCL Technologies expects revenue in FY22 to grow in double digits in constant currency terms. It expects EBIT margin for FY22 to range between 19% and 21%. 
• Dividend: HCL Tech has declared an interim dividend of Rs 6 per equity share and a special interim dividend of Rs 10 per equity share for FY 2021-22. The special interim dividend was declared to celebrate the milestone of achieving $10 billion in yearly revenue in FY21. The company had also announced Rs 700-crore one-time bonus in February 2021 to celebrate the milestone.
• Deal wins: HCL Tech registered the highest-ever new deal booking in the quarter at $3.1 billion 'The booking and pipeline represent a well balanced mix of service lines, geographies and industries,' said the company.

While HCL Tech’s numbers have missed street estimates in the quarter, the company has maintained a robust guidance in FY22. The bottomline was mainly impacted due to wager hikes and one-time bonus. The company won 19 new large deals in Q4, across industry verticals, including Financial Services, Life Sciences and Healthcare, consumer goods and manufacturing. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced businesses to move towards greater digitization. This has helped the IT sector to bounce back faster than other industries. HCL’s investments over the last few years in next-gen technologies have held them in good stead and positioned them strongly to leverage market opportunities.