TCS hit by Telecoms decline

(By Anthony Miller – Monday, 20th April 2009 6:30pm). Echoing many of the observations of Infosys management last week, TCS turned in a small decline in Q4 revenues as measured in US dollars, though the weaker Rupee made the local numbers look a whole lot healthier. Over the year, TCS turned in revenues at $6.2bn, up about 7% in dollar terms but more like +23% in Rupees.

While management talked of an ‘uncertain outlook’ in hi-tech and manufacturing sectors, it was the telco sector causing TCS most grief, notably in the UK (no prizes for guessing who’s to blame). In Europe, TCS saw growth in Banking, Retail and Utilities, though management hesitated to call this the start of the recovery.

I estimate that TCS’ UK revenues fell back 5% seq. in the quarter to £179m, giving a trailing 12 month run rate of just under £700m. That’s still way ahead of Infosys, whose UK TTM revenues I put around £440m. TechMarketView subscription service clients will be able to see a full comparative analysis of the performance of the major India-based SIs in OffshoreViews once all the companies have reported. Wipro’s next on Wednesday.