WNS 4Q profit up as outsourcer adds new clients

NEW YORK (AP) -- Indian outsourcing company WNS Holdings Ltd. said Wednesday that its fiscal fourth-quarter net income surged 86 percent as it added clients, and demand looked steady this year.

For the three months ended March 31, the company earned $8.2 million, or 16 cents per U.S.-traded share. A year earlier it earned $4.4 million, or 9 cents per share.

But stripping out charges related to paying employees in stock and other one-time items, earnings rose to 30 cents per share from 27 cents per share. Analysts polled by FactSet forecast earnings of 29 cents per share.

WNS provides outsourcing services such as finance and accounting, customer service, and technology, to industries including banking, manufacturing, shipping and health care.

The company said Wednesday that it added seven new clients in the quarter and expanded five relationships.

Revenue increased 5 percent, to $119.2 million from $113.3 million. The company said its newer industry sectors, such as retail, utilities and consumer goods, were particularly strong. Excluding payments to repair centers in its auto claims business, revenue rose 13 percent to $112.8 million.

Wall Street expected $114 million in revenue.

The company said that demand for outsourcing services appears "stable and healthy."

For all of fiscal 2013, net income came to $21.4 million, or 41 cents per share, on $460.3 million in revenue.

For the year ending in March 2014, WNS anticipated profit of $59 million to $63 million, excluding one-time items. That would be up from a comparable profit amount of $53.1 million in the year that just ended. Wall Street analysts predicted $61.1 million for this year.

The company also forecast annual revenue of between $460 million and $480 million, when excluding repair payments, up from $436.1 million the year before.

Analysts expect $483.4 million in revenue.

Shares, which have risen 22 percent over the past 12 months, were inactive in premarket trading Wednesday.