When all were expecting a poor performance and a further cut back in estimations, Infosys sprung a pleasant surprise on all by beating all expectations of doom. It posted a consolidated net profit at Rs.2,369 crore for the quarter ended December 2012 v/s Rs.2,372 crore on YoY. Revenue was at Rs.10,424 crore, up 6%. Revenues excluding Lodestone was at Rs.10,210 crore, which is a QoQ growth at 3.6% and YoY growth at 9.8%. The part which really made the markets happy were the estimations for Fy13, which after 8 quarters was actually upped. The company expects revenue at least Rs.40,746 crore and has guided EPS to be at least Rs.162.80. It has assumed conversion of 1 US$ at Rs.54.50 for rest of fiscal 2013.

EBIT rose 3% at Rs.2677 crore on a sequential basis though EBIT margin slipped 60 bps to 25.7%. It posted an over 6% growth in dollar revenue at US$1.91 billion. Liquid assets including cash and cash equivalents, current available-for-sale financial assets, investment in certificates of deposits and government bonds were Rs.22,501 crore versus Rs.22,570 crore as on September 30, 2012. Infosys and its subsidiaries added 53 clients during the quarter. Gross addition of 7,499 employees (net addition of 977) for the quarter by Infosys and its subsidiaries and this takes the total tally of employees at 1,55,629 at end of Q3FY13. The company expects 2013 to be much better than 2012 and this is reflected in the guidance. This is indeed a great way to start the new year and the earnings season.