(Reuters) – India’s Tata Communications reported a 3.5% rise in its third-quarter profit on Wednesday, helped by steady demand for its data services.
The firm’s consolidated profit before exceptional items and taxes rose to 3.86 billion rupees ($44.71 million) for the three months ended Dec. 31, from 3.73 billion rupees a year ago.
Tata Communications provides services such as data connections and cybersecurity to enterprises.
The company has been focusing on growing its revenue over margins, partly through acquisitions over the past few quarters, as it seeks to grab a bigger share of the highly competitive market for cloud, networking services, media and entertainment.
It posted a nearly 7% fall in profit before exceptional items in the quarter ended Sept. 30.
Revenue from Tata Communications’ mainstay data services business – which contributes more than 80% to the total – rose 6.3%.
The company said it aims to hit a revenue of 280 billion rupees in the segment in fiscal 2027 from 178.98 billion rupees in fiscal 2024.
Overall revenue rose 3.8% to 57.98 billion rupees.
Expenses rose 4.2% due to a 10.4% jump in the company’s network and transmission-related spending.
Tata Communications approved an investment of $88.8 million in its unit Tata Communications (Netherlands) B.V., it said in its statement.
“Over and above the divestiture of our payment solutions business, we continue to pursue other monetisation opportunities and strategic evaluation of assets,” CFO Kabir Ahmed Shakir said.
The company’s shares closed 1.1% lower after the results.
($1 = 86.3370 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Aleef Jahan in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
