Sony Corp reported a smaller loss than the company forecast, citing bigger-than-expected cost reductions and gains from its life insurance unit.
The net loss was 41 billion yen ($445 million) in the year ended March 31, narrower than the 70 billion yen the company had previously projected, Tokyo-based Sony said in a statement today. Sales were 7.21 trillion yen, or 1.2 percent lower than forecast, according to the statement.
The maker of Bravia televisions and Cyber-shot cameras has eliminated 20,000 jobs and shut factories to weather the global recession, which led to Sony’s first back-to-back annual loss since its listing half a century ago. Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer is counting on a recovery in global demand for electronics to revive earnings growth this year.
Sony shares gained 0.7 percent to close at 3,080 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange before the company reported preliminary results. The stock has gained 15 percent this year, outperforming the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
CTS, IT market
Cognizant promotes 15,000 globally
It's raining benefits at Cognizant! First, the company paid out about 200% bonus in March to a cross section of its employees. Now, the company is promoting about 15,000 of its associates globally who are below the 'manager' level.
The company has sent out letters of promotion to 15,000 employees on Friday that will take effect from May 1, 2010, sources said.
ToI has also learnt that this is just the first round of promotions and a second batch of promotions for people above the 'manager' level will happen in May. It is learnt that a sizeable chunk of the employees in that level are also likely to see themselves redesignated to a higher level. These employees would receive a fair chunk of pay hikes as well, sources added.
The company has 78,400 employees. This is the single largest number of promotions announced by any IT company in India this year. Last month, Infosys had announced promotions for 7,500 employees.
"This morning we announced global promotions for associates below the level of Manager. These promotions would be effective May 1, 2010. Cognizant's industry-leading growth over the past year has enabled promotion and career growth opportunities to a record number of employees," said Gordon Coburn, chief financial and operating officer, Cognizant in an e-mail.
Apart from the email, company officials remained tightlipped about any of the announcements including a hike in the salaries.
The company has sent out letters of promotion to 15,000 employees on Friday that will take effect from May 1, 2010, sources said.
ToI has also learnt that this is just the first round of promotions and a second batch of promotions for people above the 'manager' level will happen in May. It is learnt that a sizeable chunk of the employees in that level are also likely to see themselves redesignated to a higher level. These employees would receive a fair chunk of pay hikes as well, sources added.
The company has 78,400 employees. This is the single largest number of promotions announced by any IT company in India this year. Last month, Infosys had announced promotions for 7,500 employees.
"This morning we announced global promotions for associates below the level of Manager. These promotions would be effective May 1, 2010. Cognizant's industry-leading growth over the past year has enabled promotion and career growth opportunities to a record number of employees," said Gordon Coburn, chief financial and operating officer, Cognizant in an e-mail.
Apart from the email, company officials remained tightlipped about any of the announcements including a hike in the salaries.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Infosys, IT market
Infosys IT Inc's biggest paymaster in 2009
Unveiling plans to hire 30,000 persons this fiscal, IT bellwether Infosys today said it has paid $134 million (nearly Rs 600 crore) in salaries in 2009-10-the highest amount in the IT industry's history in India in a year.
Infosys HR head T V Mohandas Pai said the company has already made 19,000 campus offers for fiscal 2011.
Talking to reporters, he also said Infosys envisages recruiting 1,000 personnel each for its China and US offices and around 400 in Manila, he said. The company plans to induct 5,500-6,500 laterals, he added.
"There has been a large wage increase for middle and junior level employees. At the senior level, there has been a 10 per cent increase in wages. Overall, the average wage hike has been around 14-17 per cent," he said.
Nearly 7,500 persons were promoted by Infosys during the past year, out of whom 2,500 had been impacted by the company's new employee restructuring programme, called I-Race.
As per the restructuring programme, which aimed at fitting employees into roles they were prepared for, nearly 4,500 employees had been fitted in a role lower than what they were earlier fitted into. 0ut of these 4,500 personnel, 2,500 have now been promoted and the remaining 2,000 might be promoted in October.
Infosys HR head T V Mohandas Pai said the company has already made 19,000 campus offers for fiscal 2011.
Talking to reporters, he also said Infosys envisages recruiting 1,000 personnel each for its China and US offices and around 400 in Manila, he said. The company plans to induct 5,500-6,500 laterals, he added.
"There has been a large wage increase for middle and junior level employees. At the senior level, there has been a 10 per cent increase in wages. Overall, the average wage hike has been around 14-17 per cent," he said.
Nearly 7,500 persons were promoted by Infosys during the past year, out of whom 2,500 had been impacted by the company's new employee restructuring programme, called I-Race.
As per the restructuring programme, which aimed at fitting employees into roles they were prepared for, nearly 4,500 employees had been fitted in a role lower than what they were earlier fitted into. 0ut of these 4,500 personnel, 2,500 have now been promoted and the remaining 2,000 might be promoted in October.
IT market, new openings
Indian cos' hiring activity picks up 1.5 % in March
India Inc's hiring activity picked up 1.5 per cent in March, led by IT-enabled services, insurance and auto sectors, a report by job portal naukri.Com has said.
Job portal naukri.Com's monthly Job Speak survey reflected renewed optimism among recruiters, with the new job index moving up to 962 in March compared to 947 in February.
The portal takes into account not only the jobs posted online by its clients but also those made by them with the help of the website's tele-calling team.
"The hiring intentions of companies in most industry sectors seem to be moving in a positive direction as reflected by the consecutively upward moving Job index in the first quarter of 2010. It seems 'cautious optimism' among employers has given way to definite optimism," said Sumeet Singh, the National Head (Marketing and Communication) of Info Edge, which owns the website.
Hiring in ITeS and insurance sectors have seen maximum movement with the index moving up by 13 per cent and 15 per cent respectively in March over the last month.
Recruitment in auto sector moved up by 8 per cent and in pharma sector by 7 per cent in March, the report said.
Professionals in production, banking and HR also witnessed an increase in hiring by 8 to 12 per cent in March over February, the report said.
Overall, the index seems to be moving in a robust manner with hiring moving up across all industry verticals, functional areas and cities.
Among cities, Delhi have emerged as the most bullish on hiring, with the city-wise job index moving up 13 per cent over the last month.
Job portal naukri.Com's monthly Job Speak survey reflected renewed optimism among recruiters, with the new job index moving up to 962 in March compared to 947 in February.
The portal takes into account not only the jobs posted online by its clients but also those made by them with the help of the website's tele-calling team.
"The hiring intentions of companies in most industry sectors seem to be moving in a positive direction as reflected by the consecutively upward moving Job index in the first quarter of 2010. It seems 'cautious optimism' among employers has given way to definite optimism," said Sumeet Singh, the National Head (Marketing and Communication) of Info Edge, which owns the website.
Hiring in ITeS and insurance sectors have seen maximum movement with the index moving up by 13 per cent and 15 per cent respectively in March over the last month.
Recruitment in auto sector moved up by 8 per cent and in pharma sector by 7 per cent in March, the report said.
Professionals in production, banking and HR also witnessed an increase in hiring by 8 to 12 per cent in March over February, the report said.
Overall, the index seems to be moving in a robust manner with hiring moving up across all industry verticals, functional areas and cities.
Among cities, Delhi have emerged as the most bullish on hiring, with the city-wise job index moving up 13 per cent over the last month.
IT market, new openings
iGate to hire 500, eyes acquisitions
IT services company iGate said it will hire 500 professionals in the next two quarters to support its expanding operations.
"Most of the 500 people we plan to hire in over the next six months will be in India and some in Mexico and the US. They will be employed in both services in BPO areas," iGate CEO Phaneesh Murthy said.
The Nasdaq-listed company, which has been eyeing acquisitions in $30-70 million range for some time, is hopeful making it in 2010.
"We are aggressively pursuing it... We have $100 million cash on our balance sheet. We are eyeing acquisitions in $30-70 million range and we should finalise it in few months," he said. The company is looking at healthcare and financial BPO services.
There is a large pent-up demand... I think the bigger recovery is in the financial services," he said.
iGate said its net income more than doubled to $11.6 million for the January-March quarter compared to compared to $5 million registered in the same period last year, Murthy said.
Revenue was up 29 per cent at $57.9 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2010, compared to $44.8 million during the same period last year, he added.
iGate Chief Financial Officer Sujit Sircar said, "While we had an excellent performance in Q1 and expect revenues to grow, margins are likely to be under pressure due to increased hiring, rupee appreciation and wage inflation. Our cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments crossed the $100 million mark."
The company ended Q1 with 7,357 employees, a net addition of 447 employees during the quarter. Seven new customers were added by iGate during the quarter.
"Most of the 500 people we plan to hire in over the next six months will be in India and some in Mexico and the US. They will be employed in both services in BPO areas," iGate CEO Phaneesh Murthy said.
The Nasdaq-listed company, which has been eyeing acquisitions in $30-70 million range for some time, is hopeful making it in 2010.
"We are aggressively pursuing it... We have $100 million cash on our balance sheet. We are eyeing acquisitions in $30-70 million range and we should finalise it in few months," he said. The company is looking at healthcare and financial BPO services.
There is a large pent-up demand... I think the bigger recovery is in the financial services," he said.
iGate said its net income more than doubled to $11.6 million for the January-March quarter compared to compared to $5 million registered in the same period last year, Murthy said.
Revenue was up 29 per cent at $57.9 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2010, compared to $44.8 million during the same period last year, he added.
iGate Chief Financial Officer Sujit Sircar said, "While we had an excellent performance in Q1 and expect revenues to grow, margins are likely to be under pressure due to increased hiring, rupee appreciation and wage inflation. Our cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments crossed the $100 million mark."
The company ended Q1 with 7,357 employees, a net addition of 447 employees during the quarter. Seven new customers were added by iGate during the quarter.
Monday, April 12, 2010
IT market
MphasiS to buy Fortify for $15m
MphasiS has signed a definitive deal to acquire 100 per cent stake in Fortify Infrastructure Services (FIS), a provider of offshore based Remote IT Operations and Management (ROM) Services, for $15.5 million in an all cash transaction.
With this acquisition, MphasiS – which is an IT solutions, services and BPO provider in application development, system integration, product implementation, consulting services – believes that it will be able to provide outcome based services that go beyond technical SLAs.
Ganesh Ayyar, CEO of MphasiS, said, “This acquisition will catapult us ahead as a provider of offshore-based ROM services. Mid market customers are looking for partners to solve the challenges of operating and managing their IT. We see this as our sweet spot to provide cost effective and outcome based ROM services.”
In a press release, MphasiS said that this acquisition will give it access to marquee customers, an experienced management team, a talent pool of highly specialised professionals and a proven platform to provide ROM services.
Rajkumar Velagapudi, CEO of Fortify Infrastructure Services, said, “Our proven industry track record in providing outcome-based ROM services, coupled with MphasiS’ rich expertise and leading offshore capability will provide mid market customers a flexible, high-value operations management platform that is focused on achieving their business objectives.”
FIS has presence in India and the US with 250 employees.
With this acquisition, MphasiS – which is an IT solutions, services and BPO provider in application development, system integration, product implementation, consulting services – believes that it will be able to provide outcome based services that go beyond technical SLAs.
Ganesh Ayyar, CEO of MphasiS, said, “This acquisition will catapult us ahead as a provider of offshore-based ROM services. Mid market customers are looking for partners to solve the challenges of operating and managing their IT. We see this as our sweet spot to provide cost effective and outcome based ROM services.”
In a press release, MphasiS said that this acquisition will give it access to marquee customers, an experienced management team, a talent pool of highly specialised professionals and a proven platform to provide ROM services.
Rajkumar Velagapudi, CEO of Fortify Infrastructure Services, said, “Our proven industry track record in providing outcome-based ROM services, coupled with MphasiS’ rich expertise and leading offshore capability will provide mid market customers a flexible, high-value operations management platform that is focused on achieving their business objectives.”
FIS has presence in India and the US with 250 employees.
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