TCS Q4 net profit dips marginally to Rs 8,049 crore; key highlights of results, dividend per equity share

New Delhi: The country's largest software services firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Thursday (April 16) reported a marginal drop in consolidated net profit to Rs 8,049 crore for March 2020 quarter, according to the company's regulatory filing. In the company's Board meeting held today, the Directors have declared a final dividend of Rs 6 per equity share. 

Rajesh Gopinathan, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director said, "Amidst the tumult of the last few weeks, our priority has been to safeguard the health and well-being of our employees while continuing to support our customers' mission-critical activities globally. The agility, resilience, and adaptability of our operating model were put to the test, and it has emerged stronger and more proven than ever before. This has further strengthened our customers' confidence in TCS. Many of them have reached out to us to express their appreciation and gratitude for how our teams went above and beyond to help them keep their businesses running under very difficult circumstances. I want to thank all the TCSers who showed immense grit, resolve, and ingenuity, in the true spirit of TCS, to make this possible." 

R Gopinathan further said, "The pandemic completely reversed the positive momentum that we had started seeing in some of our biggest verticals in the first half of the quarter. On the positive side, we had very strong deal closures during the quarter. In fact, our order book this quarter is the largest ever, from the time we started reporting the metric. Organizations across the world are realizing the need for operational and systems resilience. Many of the large deals we signed during the quarter address precisely that need. They are core transformation programs that leverage the power of technology to make our customers' operations leaner, foster, and more resilient."

TCS Q4 segment highlights

Industries: Revenue growth was led by life Sciences & Healthcare (+16.2%), Communications & Media (+9.3%) and Manufacturing (+7%). Retail & CPG grew +4.2% and Technology & Services grew +3.5%. BFSJ revenue declined 1.3%.

Markets: Growth was led by Europe (+11.9%) and UK {+5.4), Latin America grew +3.9%, Asia Pacific grew +3.5% and MEA grew+ 1.3%. North America grew +0.2% while 1ndia .declined 1.9%.

Services:

1. Consulting & Services Integration: Enterprise Agility, as a key enabler of enterprise-wide operating model transformation goals, enabled several strategic wins. Amidst the current crisis, C&S1 has been helping customers re-orient supply chains to ensure resilience and meet critical needs. The other driver of growth was engagements around TCS' Finance Transformation offerings. 

2. Digital Transformation Services: MFDM and Bringing Life to Things frameworks continued to gain mindshare and powered multiple transformational engagements. Engineering, Cloud, Cyber Security and Enterprise Intelligent Automation services-led growth during the quarter.

3. Cognitive Business Operations: TCS' innovations around AI/ML-enabled operations, scaling of Agile DevOps, and next-generation workplace solutions which provide multi-channel, personalized and integrated experience for users were growth drivers. Other growth areas included offerings around cognitive HR, digital F&A and digital customer experience. 

Research and Innovation

As on March 31, 2020, the company has applied for 5,216 patents, including 210 applied during the quarter, and has been granted 1,341 patents.

Human Resources 

TCS hired 24,179 employees on a net basis in FY 2020, taking up the total headcount to 448,464 as of March 31, 2020. The workforce is young and very diverse, comprising 144 nationalities and with women making up 36.2% of the workforce.

TCS' organic talent development initiatives continued to deliver industry-leading outcomes. Employees logged 37.7 million learning hours in FY 2020, resulting in over 335,000 employees getting trained on multiple new technologies, and over 417,000 trained on Agile methods. The company continues to be the employer of choice, with industry-leading talent retention. IT Services attrition rate (LTM) was at 12.1%.

"Amidst this unprecedented situation, we ramped up our associate engagement across four dimensions - personal wellbeing, work engagement, learning & development, and social engagement. The outcomes have been excellent. Despite the stresses of being under a /lockdown, morale is good. We have seen associates show a stranger sense of ownership of outcomes," said Milind Lakkad, Global Head, Human Resources. 

"In great crises lie great opportunities. Our Secure Borderless Workspaces model, which takes location agnosticism to the next level, represents the future of work and will improve our associates' quality of life. By 2025, we believe our associates will spend only 25 per cent of their time in an office," he added.