PUNE: Shares of Pune-headquartered IT firm Persistent Systems fell 14.61 per cent to close at Rs 564.95 on the back on disappointing second quarter results. Earlier in the day, the stock had fallen 18 per cent to 52-week low of Rs 540. The Sensex ended 181.25 points down while the IT index fell 0.73 per cent.
The company reported a 4.7 per cent increase in profit for the quarter ended September 30 at Rs 88 crore. Revenues were up 9.8 per cent at Rs 835.55 crore, down 0.2 per cent sequentially.
In dollar terms, revenues were down 4.3 per cent sequentially at $118.23 million.
Anand Deshpande, CMD,Persistent Systems attributed this to a combination of factors. “The dip in the digital business is the result of a short closure of a project we were doing. Also, some work has moved from onsite to offshore, which has resulted in a dip in revenues, but will lead to margin improvement,” he said.
Persistent Systems has grown at 4.7 per cent in the first half of this financial year, and Deshpande said that he expected the second half of the year to be significantly better, while declining to give any guidance. The company has a Rs 43 crore exposure to IL&FS through an investment made last year. “The first round of interest that was due to us did come through in the previous quarter, so in terms of accounting theres been no default so far,” said Deshpande. He said that the company was monitoring the situation, and that the next round of interest was due only towards the end of January.
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