Information technology services major Wipro has recorded a 3.4% drop in net profit for the second quarter compared with the year-ago quarter. The Bangalore-based company’s consolidated net profit for the quarter ended September 30 stood at 24.65 billion rupees (US$335 million), as against 25.52 billion rupees in the year-ago period. On a sequential basis, it grew 3.15% as it had posted a net profit of 23.90 billion rupees in the quarter ended June 30.

This was the first full quarter under chief executive officer Thierry Delaporte after he took over in July. He said, “We had an excellent quarter with growth in revenues, expansion of margins and robust cash generation. I am very excited about the opportunities that are ahead of us and encouraged by the acceleration in business momentum we have seen this quarter. Our strategy is to focus on growth in prioritized sectors & markets led by vertical solution offerings.”

Wipro also announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Eximius Design, a leading engineering services company with strong expertise in semiconductor, software and systems design. As per Wipro’s regulatory filing, the purchase consideration is $80 million.

Eximius Design has around 1,100 employees and had registered consolidated revenues of $35.2 million in 2019. Its clientele include companies across semiconductors, cloud and hyper-scale infrastructure, consumer electronics and automotive segments. This acquisition will help Wipro to enter new market segments and provide customers with next-generation technologies such as connected products, embedded AI and security.

Meanwhile, Wipro’s board has approved a proposal to buy back shares worth up to 95 billion rupees. The IT firm will repurchase 237 million shares for 400 rupees each. The buyback size stands at 4.16% of the total paid-up equity share capital.

“The announcement to buyback equity shares is part of our philosophy to deliver consistent returns to shareholders,” said Jatin Dalal, chief financial officer. Earlier market leader Tata Consultancy Services had approved a proposal to buy back 53.3 million equity shares for 3,000 rupees each.

For the third quarter, Wipro expects revenue from its IT Services business to be in the range of $2.022 billion to $2.062 billion. This translates to a sequential growth of 1.5% to 3.5%, the company said. In the June quarter, the company did not provide quarterly guidance, citing business uncertainties arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Earlier this month, Wipro had announced that from December 1 it will roll out promotions for “high performers” in bands up to B3, which comprises nearly 80% of the workforce. The company has a total headcount of over 1,80,000.