Infosys reports 17.3% jump in first-quarter profit

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — India’s Infosys Technologies on Friday reported a better-than-expected 17.3% jump in fiscal first-quarter net profit, but forecast a bigger drop in annual profit on a difficult business environment and a strengthened rupee. The software major said it made 15.27 billion rupees ($318 million) in net income for the quarter ended June 30, while revenue grew 12.7% to 54.72 billion rupees. The company forecast its earnings per share for the full-year will decline by between 8.2% and 9.6% to a range between 94.59 and 96 rupees, under Indian accounting standards. That compared with its April prediction of an EPS between 96.65 rupees and 101.18 rupees.