NIIT Q4 Net zooms five-fold to Rs 14 crore

New Delhi: IT training solutions firm NIIT Ltd today reported over five-fold rise in net profit at Rs 14 crore for the quarter ended March 2014 on strong growth in corporate learning segment. The company's net profit (on like-to-like basis) stood at Rs 2.7 crore in the January-March quarter of 2013.

The financials exclude numbers from hardware supplied by NIIT for some contracts and are compared on a like-to-like basis. The net revenue grew five per cent to Rs 232.9 crore in the reported quarter from Rs 221.6 crore in the year-ago period.

For the fiscal ended March 2014, the net profit declined 32.3 per cent to Rs 17.8 crore while revenue grew marginally by one per cent to Rs 26.3 crore, compared to the previous fiscal.

"We are operating in a difficult environment where we are seeing muted IT hiring. Added to that is the high rate of inflation and foreign exchange. There was a slight recovery in Q3 because of cost management and improved liquidity position but that has impacted the annual performance," NIIT CEO Vijay K Thadani told reporters here.

However, in Q4, there was growth as corporate learning solutions (CLS) business grew 41 per cent y-o-y and order intake stood at USD 21.8 million, he added. Thadani said the School Learning Solutions (SLS) segment saw an addition of 371 schools during the fourth quarter, a growth of 78 per cent year-on-year.

The company's Board has also proposed a dividend of 80 per cent, or Rs 1.60, on each equity share of face value Rs 2. NIIT's Career Building Solutions (CBS) segment recorded a net revenue of Rs 82.4 crore during the quarter, backed by a growth of 16 per cent y-o-y in non-tech revenue.

"Our pioneering 'Cloud campus' initiative has now expanded to cover 96 courses across 211 centres. Cloud Campus enrolments increased by 6,500 in Q4, taking the cumulative number of enrolments to around 60,000," NIIT Chairman Rajendra S Pawar said.

The revenue from CLS stood at Rs 107.6 crore, up 41 per cent y-o-y during Q4 of 2013-14 as corporate training business recorded fresh order intake of USD 21.8 million, higher by 52 per cent y-o-y, reflecting strong customer confidence, he added.

School Learning Solutions (SLS) registered net revenue of Rs 41.7 crore during the said quarter with order intake of Rs 55 crore from non-government schools. "NIIT signed up 371 new schools during the quarter. The new 'NGuru' solutions strengthened NIIT's leadership position, thereby registering 78 per cent y-o-y growth in new schools added, with 115 per cent y-o-y growth in order intake, during the quarter," NIIT COO P Rajendran said.