India's TCS misses Q2 profit estimates on North America weakness
Recasts throughout, adds CEO comments in paragraph 3 and analyst reaction in paragraphs 6 and 10
By Sai Ishwarbharath B
BENGALURU, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS on Thursday kicked off the earnings season for Indian IT majors on a glum note after it reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit on weakness in its key North American market.
Higher borrowing costs, worries about economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions have prompted most companies to curb their spending on technology projects, leading to fewer opportunities for the $254 billion Indian IT sector.
"We saw the cautious trends of the last few quarters continue to play out in this quarter as well," CEO K Krithivasan said in a statement.
Revenue from the North American market, which accounts for nearly half of the overall sales, fell 2.1% - its fourth straight quarter of declines.
TCS' second-quarter results reflected a drop in deal bookings, compared with a year earlier, that analysts said signaled reluctance among IT clients to spend on discretionary projects.
"There is nothing charming on the numbers. Banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), and North America were expected to do better, which has pushed profit to come a tad lower," said Dipak Saha, an analyst at brokerage KR Choksey.
Net profit at the Tata Group company rose 5% to 119.09 billion Indian rupees ($1.42 billion), but missed the analysts' average estimate of 125.02 billion rupees, according to LSEG data.
Its total order bookings stood at $8.6 billion during the quarter, versus $8.3 billion in the previous quarter and $11.2 billion in the year-ago period.
The industry leader added 5,720 employees sequentially in the quarter.
"Headcount addition despite tepid deal booking suggests that utilization is near peak levels," Jefferies analysts wrote in a note, while adding that attrition also remained low, indicating that industry-wide lateral hiring was yet to pick up.
Consolidated revenue rose 7.7% to 642.59 billion rupees, while analysts expected 640.93 billion rupees.
The company canceled its press conference and media interviews due to the death of Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata , who was instrumental in taking TCS public in 2004 in one of the high-profile IPOs.
Rivals Infosys INFY.NS, Wipro WIPR.NS and HCLTech HCLT.NS are due to report their results next week.
U.S.-listed shares of Infosys and Wipro fell between 2% and 3% in morning trading.
($1 = 83.9420 Indian rupees)
Reporting by Sai Ishwarbharath B; Editing by Janane Venkatraman, Dhanya Skariachan and Anil D'Silva
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