Tech Mahindra Limited has informed the Exchange about Transcript of Analysts/Institutional Investor Meet/Con. Call
Tech Mahindra Limited Sharda Centre, Off Karve Road Pune 411004, Maharashtra, India
Tel: +91 20 6601 8100 Fax: +91 20 2542 4466
techmahindra.com connect@techmahindra.com
Registered Office: Gateway Building, Apollo Bunder Mumbai 400 001, India
CIN: L64200MH1986PLC041370
16th May, 2022
To, BSE Limited Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers, Dalal Street, Mumbai – 400 001 Scrip Code : 532755
National Stock Exchange of India Limited Exchange Plaza, 5th floor, Plot No. – C/1, G Block, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (E) Mumbai – 400 051 NSE Symbol : TECHM
Subject: Transcript of the earnings conference call for the quarter and year ended
31st March, 2022
Dear Sir/Madam,
In terms of Regulation 30 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 read with Para A of Part A of Schedule III, please find enclosed the transcript of the earnings conference call for the quarter and year ended 31st March, 2022 conducted after the meeting of the Board of Directors held on 13th May, 2022, for your information and records.
The above is also available on https://insights.techmahindra.com/investors/tml-q4-fy-22-earnings-transcript.pdf
the website of
information
the Company at
Thanking you,
For Tech Mahindra Limited
Anil Khatri Company Secretary
Encl.: as above
“Tech Mahindra Limited's Q4 FY'22 Earnings Conference Call”
May 13, 2022
MANAGEMENT: MR. CP GURNANI – MANAGING DIRECTOR & CHIEF
EXECUTIVE OFFICER MR. MILIND KULKARNI – CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER MR. JAGDISH MITRA – CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER MR. HARSHVENDRA SOIN – CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER MS. SIMMI DHAMIJA– CHIEF TRANSFORMATION OFFICER MR. MANISH VYAS – PRESIDENT CME BUSINESS MR. ROHIT ANAND – GLOBAL HEAD OF BUSINESS FINANCE MR. VIVEK AGARWAL– PRES. CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT MR. BIRENDRA SEN – PRESIDENT BUSINESS PROCESS SERVICES
,
Page 1 of 15
Tech Mahindra Limited May 13, 2022
Moderator:
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Tech Mahindra Limited Q4 FY'22 Earnings
Conference Call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode and there
will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need
assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing ‘*’ then ‘0’ on your
touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference
over to Mr. CP Gurnani, M.D. & CEO of Tech Mahindra Limited. Thank you and over to you,
sir.
CP Gurnani:
Hi, good morning, good evening, everybody. Welcome to Tech Mahindra Q4'22 & FY'22
Results. Thank you all for joining us today. We are excited, happy regarding our financial
performance, and overall as a company investing into future, it's been a great year. We started
the year when I look back with a new framework which is NXT.NOW. NXT.NOW was really
taking into account the next range of technologies which will lead to business transformation,
we took into account some of the unique features of the company, which is communications,
content, creativity through BORN or Pininfarina, and also on commerce, which is really how to
help our customers grow. Now, this forecast, I think has worked well for us and our theme of
NXT.NOW which is basically to be agile, to anticipate the future and do it now has worked well.
Just to give you an example, in February, our leadership did a simultaneous launch of
TechMVerse in Barcelona as well as in Hyderabad. Again very, very well received. And we
believe that today our use cases are helping many, many customers, few people on eCommerce
on NFT, few people who are looking at creativity, few people who are looking at solving
business challenges in retail sector or in some cases working on the content again, which is about
the teaching platforms or education or simulation for the sports. So, your company will focus on
5G, will focus on the Wave-2.
Wave-2 as you know is an internal program which looks at data flow from IoT, from various
devices, from various other sources and how the data is managed, all the data is not only
managed through conventional tools and platforms, but also through AI, how the data goes to
Edge Computing or data centers or the cloud and how we are able to secure the data. that journey
for us is wave-2. And I think overall, NXT.NOW has resulted in good results and good value
creation for our clients.
Company overall signed more than a $3.3 billion of large deals. We saw some of the very big,
large deals, mainly in CME and BFSI. We are lucky and happy that our 5G investments are now
yielding results. Our Cloud business is growing very, very healthy.
Overall, I can say the FY'22 as Rohit tells me is that it's one of our best years in seven years. So,
I can only say is thanks all of you for supporting us in FY'22, supporting us in the previous years.
I know Q4 results take us to almost a $6 billion company, constant currency growth of 5.4%,
overall large deal win of billion plus, CME business growing over the last six quarters
consistently, I am only glad that I have great team and I have this leadership team right on this
Page 2 of 15
Tech Mahindra Limited May 13, 2022
call. So, thank you for your support. The board recognizes that our capital allocation should
continue to reward the shareholders in short-term also. So, the board has recommended the final
dividend of Rs.30 per share in addition to Rs.15 per share, which was earlier given as interim
dividend.
My focus for FY'23 and my management team's focus is organic growth, continue to look in our
EBITDA improvement programs, and continue our focus on wave-2 and Metaverse.
Connectivity wave-2 and Metaverse will continue to be our focus leading to business
transformation.
I want to thank you all for attending the call. Handing over to Milind and Rohit to update us on
all the financials. Milind, over to you. Thank you, guys
Milind Kulkarni:
Thank you, CP. good evening and good morning depending on the time zone you are in.
Let me cover the company financials for the quarter-ended March and for the year in little more
details. We ended the quarter with a revenue of $1,608 million versus $1,533 million last
quarter,. constant currency growth of 5.4%. And as CP alluded, balance growth with CME
vertical growing at around 4.8% and Enterprise growing at 5.8%.
We had another quarter of strong deal wins with TCV exceeding $1 billion for the second time
in last two years. Now, overall increase about 50%-plus over the previous year in terms of TCV
win.
Revenue in rupee terms was about Rs.12,116 crores versus Rs.11,451 crores, which is a 5.8%
growth in rupee terms. EBIT for the quarter was about $211.5 million versus $228 million in
Q3. EBITDA margin for the quarter was 17.2%, lower by about 80 basis points compared to the
Q3, partially on account of lower utilization, which is in view of the recruitment, which we've
done for the growth and juniorization.
Because the supply side pressure still continue and there was some one-time which were there
in last quarter, which obviously have not got repeated in the current quarter. Then there was an
additional charge of about 80 bps on account of depreciation and amortization. Depreciation
because of additional investment in the hardware and software, which we've done in the current
quarter, and amortization resulting from the acquisitions in the Q4, where the impact in terms of
cost was for the full quarter, but the benefit we got was for part of the quarter.
Moving below EBIT line, our other income was higher at about 42 million compared to 30
million in the last quarter. And the increase was mainly contributed by the FOREX gain, which
was about $27.8 million versus US$17 million in Q3.
We continue to follow the hedge policy which the board has adopted in last many years, and that
consistent hedging has helped us to deliver good returns over the period.
Page 3 of 15
Tech Mahindra Limited May 13, 2022
One redeeming feature for this quarter was a tax rate of about 17.5% as against 27% in Q3. This
was an account of one-time reversal of tax provision related to SEZ benefits. And that is a result
of two factors; one is the pickup in the investment in plant and machinery in last year.
Our decision to opt for new tax regime from FY'2022, which means the investment that we will
do in the next three years, will be available for the utilization of SEZ investment reserves, till
FY'21-22. We will be under new regime as I said from FY'22 onwards, and our normalized tax
rate for the company would be in the range of about 26%.
The net profit margin for the quarter is 12.3%, which is an increase of about 30 bps over the last
quarter.
Free cash flow for the quarter was about $111, which is 56% of PAT, lower than the last quarter.
The cash flow was impacted because of the additional hardware and software investment as well
as some OPEX payment which we had to make for the future. So, some of these benefits you'll
see as we go along in the coming quarters.
Our DSO days which have increased last quarter, have improved by about four days to 97-days,
and we hope to continue on that movement.
Moving to full year performance, the revenue for quarter, we almost had $6 billion as CP alluded
to, we were at $5,998 million, a growth of 17.3%.
During the year, our Communications business grew by 17.2%, while Enterprise business grew
by 17.4%.
In the Enterprise, Technology and BFSI were major growth drivers for the current quarter.
Coming to CME, the 5G revenues help us to accelerate to grow there. EBIT margin for the full
year at 14.5% which is about 30 bps improvement over the previous year. In absolute term, EBIT
for the year was $872 million. Our EBITDA for the year was 1,076 million, a margin of 17.9%.
Other income for the year or $149 million, significantly higher than the previous year, because
of higher FOREX exchange gain; FOREX gain was about $75.5 million this year, as against
$12.6 million last quarter. Free cash flow for the full year was about $595 million, about 80%
of PAT for the year.
As CP said, the board has declared a final dividend of Rs.30 per share and with an interim of
dividend of Rs.15 per share, dividend will be Rs.45 per share, same as last year.
As I said, we continue to follow our hedging policy consistently. Our hedge book was about $2.2
billion, almost similar to last year and MTM gains as on 31st March were about $571 million,
Page 4 of 15
Tech Mahindra Limited May 13, 2022
of which $16 million have been taken to P&L and $55 million in the balance sheet based on the
accounting that we do.
In summary, I would like to reiterate that we are taking the right steps towards the transforming
our operation as we continue to focus on growth momentum moving in the new fiscal.
With this remark, I will now open the floor for questions.
Moderator:
We will now begin the question-and-answer session. The first question is from the line of Nitin
Padmanabhan from Investec. Please go ahead.
Nitin Padmanabhan:
I had a couple of questions on margins actually. In the last quarter, our SG&A was around 12.1%
of revenue and you had suggested that it could go closer to 13% on a sustainable basis, but this
quarter also, it seems to be just about there. Is there any specific one-off there or how should we
think about this particular cost item?
CP Gurnani:
Nitin, for convenience, I'm going to request Rohit Anand to coordinate all the question-answers.
So, Rohit, can you take over please?
Rohit Anand:
Yes, CP, sure, thank you. Nitin, from a quarter-over-quarter perspective, there is absolute
increase of $10 million in the SG&A spend, while as a percentage, yes, we've not seen that
increase so much come through. But, nothing from a dramatic one-off that we see this time
versus last time, which is reflecting from a P&L standpoint.
Nitin Padmanabhan:
From a margin perspective overall, if we look at EBIT, I think you mentioned something on
depreciation. If you could give a broad color on puts and takes on margin and how we should
think about it on a going forward basis?
Rohit Anand:
So, I think from an EBIT perspective, maybe the way to think about it is, from where we are,
let's look at a little bit of recap. I think from the year perspective, we've had 14.6% at an EBIT
level based on some of the charges that came in 4Q, which I'll talk about. I think barring that we
were very close to the range that we had outlined for the year. So, we're in the ballpark. As we
move forward and where we are from a quarter perspective, what has happened through the year
is the salary cost and the retention based on the supply side pressures has continued. And we've
also seen in the second half a little bit of advantage come through for price, but that's lagging,
the cost increases dramatically. So, when you look forward, one of the big levers that we'll
continue to work on with our customers going to be price increase, right, so that's one looking
forward from a margin standpoint. Second, we've invested consciously in the last two quarters
for future, which means we've invested in juniorization, we've done a lot of fresher hiring. And
that's the long term impact, we want to get to bring average resource costs down, right, but that
gives the short term impact. So, our utilization has gone down. If you look at that from a two
quarter standpoint, we are operating at almost 87%-plus, which has gone down significantly. So,
Page 5 of 15
Tech Mahindra Limited May 13, 2022
as we look at the future, there is an upside on utilization that will pay out, right. So, that's the
second broad tenure we look at, right. Third, I think we are continuing our journey on offshoring.
I mentioned that multiple times before. As we look forward, I think we see a definite
improvement opportunity for us available on doing more and more offshoring and short term,
the demand because of travel restrictions, etc., also been fulfilled onshore, and as a lot of deal
wins that we've won, the work will start getting transitioned to offshore, that'd be an opportunity
that we will see. If you see our sub-contracting cost, right, that's another lever that's gone up to
get the growth that we've been able to do this year. But as we stabilize in those programs, as we
get maturity, we continue to work two things; one, wherever the resources required to be
onshore, those subcon will be replaced by onsite, people who are full time headcount, and also
there we will play in terms of how do we hire the right fit. That will give us an advantage from
a cost benefit by substituting subcon to headcount. But that's another lever that will pay for us.
And then this also I've mentioned in the past, and we're continuing pursuing it; we're trying to
look very strongly on geographies that are low margin for us, countries that are not giving us the
return we want. We're taking conscious effort on picking those portfolio out, which doesn't fit
strategically, which is not giving the return, one, organically not focusing on that. Second,
packages from our perspectives that we are seeing that, can we make a better realization to
somebody else there, right versus the fitment to our portfolio. So, those efforts in our perspective
will give a better business mix as we look forward and give us upside from a margin perspective.
So, these are the levers as we look forward will continue to work for us. And you know from a
supply side perspective, salary cost, travel coming back, some of the facility costs while we will
continue to work on a hybrid model, those will be the headwinds for us. But given this and the
growth prospects, given how the deal wins have been and what the pipeline looks like, it makes
us continue to believe, we continue to progress as we go sequentially to the quarters for the year
to improve our margin story as we move forward.
Moderator:
The next question is from the line of Pankaj Kapoor from CLSA. Please go ahead.
Pankaj Kapoor:
Rohit, a question on the revenue outlook. If I look at this year, you have added over 700-odd
million of organic revenues. And now for the next year, if I see, the deal booking this year of
course has been 50% higher than last year. So, how should one think about the incremental
revenue addition on organic basis for next year – do you think we should sustain this level or it
could be even better than this?
Rohit Anand:
Pankaj, as you know, I mean, obviously, we don't give guidance, but I can give you some trends
that we're seeing from a market and our vertical perspective, that give a flavor of what the future
is, right? So, communications, right, you've seen that grow consistently over the last few
quarters. So, that from our perspective, deal wins that you see in the quarters, almost 600 million
plus that we got in the fourth quarter, including a significant win that CP also mentioned on the
5G space. So, communications with all the levers that we set on 5G are kicking for us. Including
the pipeline that we see that will continue to fire. So, that's the positive for the years from a
momentum standpoint. Second, if you look at enterprise, from the different vertical perspective
Page 6 of 15
Tech Mahindra Limited May 13, 2022
that we've articulated before, technology continues to be a positive momentum for us. While we
saw some quarterly fluctuation the last one, but, as we look going forward, that's another area
that consistently will grow for us similar to last year. We're seeing a ton of opportunities in the
technology space. So, that's the second area where we're seeing demand continue, right. And
then you've seen DPS, DPS has grown significantly for the year. And when we look at the way
we are bidding for deals, the way the opportunities are stacking up, that's another area where
we'll continue to offer better solutions to our customers. And you know we've also done a lot of
solution capability adds in our BPS segment, including consulting, getting earlier in the cycle,
from a BPS process perspective. So, that all from a go-to-market perspective is coming together
for us to give us better leverage and new deal wins. So, that's another area that we continue to
see positive momentum. And then the whole customer experience area like CX that Dilip Keshu
leads and we've been talking about that, that continues to help us a lot on giving the positive side
on deal wins. And a lot of deals that we win which gets reported, they play a very active role in
helping overall solution on customer experience standpoint. So, I think from a momentum
standpoint, as we were last year, same time, a pipeline is looking good. Our deal win momentum
is similar; we ended the year last year with a similar deal win and that's the same position we're
in. So, that's kind of from a demand standpoint, Pankaj, that we see in. Geo, while we see in
Europe, we made some leadership changes there, we put different leaders we articulated it that
segment was slowing down for us. That give us a positive momentum in the year. We've done
similar changes in the America segment. And that again this year from a geography mix
standpoint, we aspire to continue to grow.
Pankaj Kapoor:
Any headwinds you see, maybe not immediately, but in the second half, given the kind of macros
that we have?
Rohit Anand:
So, difficult, Pankaj, to kind of really outline right now. What we're seeing is visibly the pipeline.
The pipeline continues to be strong. I mean, there could be certain short-term pressure on costs
that might come at a client perspective, but it's also an opportunity for them to use our capability
to even give them better long-term structuring of the cost, right. So, it's an opportunity for further
offshoring for some of the clients, right, because they get the cost pressure. So, it'll play out from
a short term, medium term perspective. We're proactively working with customers early to give
the right solutions upfront so that they can think about what is bothering them instead of having
knee-jerk reaction. So, I think those discussions are early in the phase, but overall, we're not
seeing much reactions come through… maybe I'll just ask, Manish and Jagdish if they want to
quickly comment on what they feel in their segments.
Manish Vyas:
Absolutely, I think the overall trend as we have been saying through the last year, has continued
to play out exactly, in that fashion, which is the digital transformation driven by 5G and the need
to be ready for 5G revenue growth, whether in the consumer realm or in the enterprise, that
continues to drive the transformational activity within the telecom ecosystem. What also
continues to drive growth for us is the adoption of cloud. That is also a pretty solid secular theme
across the world. And that's largely for transforming their existing stack, as most of it will
Page 7 of 15
Tech Mahindra Limited May 13, 2022
continue to drive the digital transformation as they adopt some new software as well. So, I think
those two broad themes will continue. What has also been helping us over the last year or so is
the investments that we've made in our digital engineering capabilities. And that's as well helping
where now we are in pretty good positions to provide engineering capabilities in the Metaverse
ecosystem, from network to devices to applications and use cases, or for that matter, offering
software product development and capabilities there in. That's also another solid theme that is
continuing to emerge. And like Rohit said, there will be some pressures, because as the economy
evolves, there will be pressures to try and conserve some cash, but, the broad demand, sentiment
remain that the telecom ecosystem has benefited a lot over the last 18, 20 months, by digitizing
as much as they can. And we believe that process will continue. And we continue to have that
privileged access right, across all the major operators for us to get a pretty good view of what's
happening from some of these transformational projects to be able to take advantage of, whether
it is in the network space, in the infrastructure cloud space, or in these software transformation,
all three.
Vivek Agarwal:
From a BFSI perspective we had a good deal with a 19% year-on-year growth and that obviously
takes us on a certain trajectory as we look into next year. Q4, obviously, included the CTC
acquisition. And as we explained in the last earnings call, with that acquisition, we've now
created a standalone focus team to drive insurance growth and drive synergy with the new
acquisition, and we're making good progress there. And I think just reiterating what Rohit and
Manish said in different contexts, we do continue to see robust demand when there isn't any
impact on the wider economic issues or the war on the demand scenario right now.
Jagdish Mitra:
So, a couple of things that are playing out in our strength overall for the enterprise business, but
I guess for the whole company as well. Large deals, specifically, I think we've more than doubled
in our performance from last year to this year, and that I think augurs well in terms of what we
see as an opportunity, and we aim to add at least a billion dollars revenue next year, and we had
about million dollars of deal wins in each quarter is what we're trying to go to, and maintain that
momentum, which should show a good number of sequential growth. As far as the verticals are
concerned, manufacturing, as you know, for us includes auto, discrete, oil and gas, and utilities,
all of them have shown more than double-digit growth this year. They are also promising
enough. Manufacturing for us is very close to BFSI in terms of a billion dollars vertical. So, we
should hit that very, very soon. And the rest of them in terms of Hi-Tech, etc., should start
entering that league at the end of the year as we get into that kind of a run rate, at least upwards
of sequential growth wise upwards of high double digit towards high teens. So, bullish on the
vertical growth, and as we said, primarily, transformation towards revenues from Americas and
Europe, that's where we are seeing most of the growth happening.
Moderator:
The next question is from the line of Sandip Agarwal from Edelweiss. Please go ahead.
Sandip Agarwal:
I just wanted to understand whether going forward, you see more demand in 5G coming in or
you're seeing that enterprise business will equally go strongly or it will be ahead of telecom,
Page 8 of 15
Tech Mahindra Limited May 13, 2022
what is the sense on that? And also, if I can add another question on the attrition side, when do
you think that the attrition will pull off and where is more attrition, whether it is more in
enterprise or in telecom?
Manish Vyas:
Let me comment on the growth. In response to the previous question I did highlight where we
are seeing the demand sentiments coming from within the telecom ecosystem. We have been
consistent about it, if you recall that this is a whole sum very comprehensive digital
transformation that is underway. And digital transformation in the telco realm is not just about
changing the front end or changing some BSS systems. It goes all the way back into the way the
networks are operated. And before that, how networks are built. And how the network compute
happens going forward with a cloud-based model. So, in totality, it is a complete transformation
that is underway. And we believe that this momentum where the need for continuing and
completing at least this phase of the digital transformation is going to still continue to play out
in the next 12 months also. Our pipeline reflects that, our current advanced conversations with
various operators indicate that. What is driving most of that digital transformation is clearly the
power of 5G and 5G protocols that will allow the operators to offer services to their enterprise
customers, to their partners, and to their consumers slightly and very differently with what we
have done in the previous generational wireless technologies. So, that's going to continue. As
far as the enterprise commentary is concerned, I'll hand it over to Jagdish and Vivek, because I
think they've given you broad answers about how the growth cycles will be.
Vivek Agarwal:
To your exact question, I think the great news is that as Manish articulated, that's 40% of the
business, we're seeing great demand driven by 5G and everything else. I think on the enterprise
side, between what Jagdish and I said, Hi-Tech, BFSI, continue to grow very well for us. So, it's
a healthy competition between the two parts, right, where can we outdo each other from a growth
perspective, but the demand scenario is pretty robust across the board.
Rohit Anand:
On attrition, there's no specific trends between the verticals, but it's more driven by the skills,
certain high skill, niche skills, we see that trend higher, that's the general trend here, but not
across the two segments. We've seen improvement on attrition sequentially, quarter-to-quarter
at point of time, while LTM continues to be flat. So, that trend is improving, but Harsh, if you
can comment if you are on the call.
Harshvendra Soin:
Thanks for asking that. As you would see on trend, we've actually bucked the trend by showing
a flat on attrition in the last 12-months, but if you really look at our quarterly annualized number,
we've seen a considerable downward trend. Now, obviously, that means that all the efforts that
we have put in place about four quarters ago or three quarters ago, seem to be paying off now.
As Rohit said, we don't see a particular trend between CME or enterprise, it's more skill base as
well as tenure base. So, at the junior level, we will probably see a slightly higher and has always
been the trend, but the real good news is that our quarterly annualized number is actually coming
down, which is really bucking the trend from last few quarters, as well as from what we see in
other company. So, that's a very healthy sign for us. And we do believe that all the steps that we
Page 9 of 15
have taken in Tech Mahindra will ensure that this downward trend continues, and the
stabilization of attrition happen.
Tech Mahindra Limited May 13, 2022
Moderator:
The next question is from the line of Surendra Goyal from Citigroup. Please go ahead.
Surendra Goyal:
Rohit, just wanted to know when the next wage hike cycle kicks in? And secondly, do you expect
the Comviva seasonality to impact margins in the coming June quarter?
Rohit Anand:
From a salary hike cycle perspective, we're already doing some sequentially in batches, but the
main cycle is for us going to be July. From a Comviva perspective, we've structured the business
where we've over a period of time reduced the seasonality impact that we typically saw in the
last few years. While it will be still there from a June quarter standpoint but will be relatively
lower than what we've seen in the past.
Surendra Goyal:
Could you also comment on visa costs? Any idea about the quantum and timing of that for you?
Rohit Anand:
Timing usually is going to be the current quarter, and from a quantum standpoint, it will be
maybe an impact of 25 to 30 basis points from a margin standpoint.
Moderator:
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vibhor Singhal from PhillipCapital. Please go
ahead.
Vibhor Singhal:
The incremental depreciation and amortization cost that we saw this quarter, that’s going to be
a recurring one? So, basically should we model the number in this quarter going forward as well
or was there some one-off cost in terms of acquisitions, which was there in this quarter?
Rohit Anand:
For next year, the way it works is some of the amortization is obviously for one odd year, so
that’s a reduction that will happen, but not for this year. It will be a reduction for the following
year, and in the quarter while there was some catch-up, etc., but broadly you can assume that to
be recurring as we move forward.
Vibhor Singhal:
Any other incremental expense that we are expecting, maybe from any of these acquisitions,
which might not have been fully integrated in the next quarter to hit us or do you think everything
has been taken into account in these quarter numbers?
Rohit Anand:
I think we’ve done a thorough due diligence, so we’ve accounted almost all the activity that’s
happened.
Vibhor Singhal:
Any color on the tax rate? Should we consider it to be a similar range that we have had this year?
Rohit Anand:
Range going forward that we have articulated is around 26%. That’s the range that we modelled
and we end up being that on a normalized run rate basis.
Page 10 of 15
Tech Mahindra Limited May 13, 2022
Vibhor Singhal:
And this quarter was exceptionally low?
Rohit Anand:
Yes, we did have some benefits that we got on account of SEZ, so that’s the reduced effective
tax rate for the quarter.
Moderator:
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Gaurav Rateria from Morgan Stanley. Please
go ahead.
Gaurav Rateria:
So, two questions. Firstly, when I look at your commentary, when I look at the deal win numbers,
it’s significantly better than the last year. So, is there anything that precludes you from
commenting that next year growth could be better than the last year? Is macro creating that kind
of an uncertainty, which is protruding you from saying that or are there any other factors around
renewals or anything, which one should be aware of from a growth perspective for next year?
Rohit Anand:
You heard Manish, Jagdish, and Vivek talk about it from a demand perspective looking
favorable. Across the sectors, we’re seeing positive demand. Discussions are favorable.
Communications obviously to our strength and the capability that we have and when we look at
also the pipeline, where we were last year to where we are now, I think that is also showing
significant improvement. So, all the trends are positive and from our respective, we discussed
macros and uncertainty and how it pans out as we move forward and it’s very difficult to predict.
So, that’s definitely something that we will have to keep on monitoring as we move forward
quarter-on-quarter, though right now we don't see that.
Gaurav Rateria:
Second question is on margins, your ex of amortization related charge around acquisitions, your
organic margins would be in ballpark in the range of 15% in Fiscal Year 2022. What kind of a
pricing lever is required to be able to absorb the incremental cost on hiring, etc. and manage
stable margins in Fiscal Year 2022 on an organic basis without including the effect of
amortization. Secondly, within the amortization, is there any schedule that you can share, which
can help us to model it better from a 12 to 24 months point of view?
Rohit Anand:
So, pricing is one of the big levers, but not the only one. So, there’s definitely a lag on pricing.
As I’ve mentioned, we’ve seen some positive impact come through in the second half more
towards the fourth quarter and I think the active discussions by the commercial delivery and the
leaders are moving in the favorable direction. So, that should start kicking in, but that’s just one
of the levers that will be required for us as we move in to next year. Beyond that, as I mentioned,
a lot of focus is being driven on business mix, growing geographies that are giving us better
returns. Also looking at low margin areas which don't fit us strategically, trying to actively work
on finding the right fit there. So, I think beyond just pricing, which is going to be an active lever
as we move forward, it's a bunch of these actions and some of the investments we have already
done on ‘juniorization’ that will start kicking in for us as we move forward with utilization rate
going back to the levels we were comfortable with, which you saw first half of the last year.
Page 11 of 15
Tech Mahindra Limited May 13, 2022
Gaurav Rateria:
And any schedule for the amortization charge for 12 to 24 months just to help us model the DNA
chart better?
Rohit Anand:
So, as I mentioned from a run rate perspective, FY23 will be similar what you’ve seen and as
we go into the next year, the following year, it will go down. Specifically, I think Kaustubh can
share with you.
Moderator:
The next question is from the line of Ashwin Mehta from Ambit capital. Please go ahead.
Ashwin Mehta:
One question in terms of acquisition intensity. We’ve spent almost $940+ million on acquisitions
since the start of last year. In terms of acquisition intensity how are you seeing things going
forward? DO you think this pace continues or we look to consolidate our acquisitions and
possibly focus more on organic in the subsequent year?
Rohit Anand:
I think from a capital allocation standpoint, this year is going to be more organic focused. We
will focus on consolidating the assets that we’ve acquired last year. I think a lot of work has to
go there to make sure that we set it right, get the structure going and make sure that we can long-
term get the benefits of synergy that we’ve planned for those assets. So, that’s the view. So,
you’re right. The focus is going to be more organic and getting these aligned to our infrastructure
overall in the structure so that we get the right potential benefit.
Vivek Agarwal:
I think Rohit you laid out the direction. The only color I would add to that is that we’ve always
stated, in terms of our acquisitions are largely focused on fulfilling capability gaps and we’ve
done a lot of them over the last 18 months and hence there is less white spaces to go after and
that’s just an outcome of what we’ve done. Hence, the focus will be on driving synergies, driving
integration, creating value from the investments we’ve done in the last year.
Ashwin Mehta:
Just one fu on an earlier question. So, from an SGNA perspective, do you still think you'll go
back to those steady levels of more closer to the 13% odd levels or there have been some
structural savings that may be help us operate at the current levels?
Rohit Anand:
I think there will be upside movement from the current level. There are a few areas there from
cost increase perspective. One we speak about, facility at some point coming in as the
infrastructure cost that we have and some of the other costs that have been subdued for us for
the year, but as the operating leverage growth continues to pick up and the demand continues to
be what it is, from a leverage perspective, we might see some benefit and hence maybe it will
be somewhere in the middle of that we might land up while there might be some quarterly
variation.
Moderator:
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Dipesh Mehta from Emkay Global. Please go
ahead.
Page 12 of 15
Tech Mahindra Limited May 13, 2022
Dipesh Mehta:
A couple of questions. First, if I look at our standalone profitability, it declined sharply, 430 bps
quarter-on-quarter. So, can you help us understand what played out in standalone numbers.
Second question is about fresher addition. I think you alluded to us have increased
‘juniorization.’ So, can you help us with some data about how many freshers we added during
FY22 and how we intend to increase for 2023. Last question is about the EBIT margin aspiration.
Earlier, we always alluded 15% EBIT margin aspiration and our medium-term taking it to high
teens. How do we look that number shaping up for FY23?
Rohit Anand:
So, first question from you was on standalone. You’ve got to look at consolidated margins
because there are a lot of intercompany deals and transactions that happen that truly don't give
the right picture and that’s the way to look at it. So, that’s one. Second, in terms of freshers,
we’ve added more than 10,000 last year and as I mentioned, one of the big levers that we will
continue to drive is ‘juniorization’ and addressing the pyramid. So, I think that’s an area we will
continue to pursue while we move forward into this year as well because it’s an important area
for us to structurally address the cost structure. So, that’s the second point. From a margins
standpoint, as I mentioned, when we look at this year, we’ve been organically close to that
number that we had articulated. I think for the following year also, our positively levers that I
had articulated, we will continue to drive it through the year and from a journey perspective,
continue to pursue sequential improvements through the year and get towards a similar range
that we had articulated last year.
Dipesh Mehta:
One of your comments was, we expect sequential margin to improve. Now, in that one of the
quarters would have salary hike. So, I just want to understand from Q4 to Q4, we should expect
steady improvement in trajectory?
Rohit Anand:
As we mentioned, there are certain cyclic aspects for us. So, we spoke about seasonality of
Comviva that comes for Q1. There is certain visa cost, etc. There is certain cyclic nature of
course that comes in Q4 for us. I think looking at that, there will be certain headwinds going into
the quarter, but I think as I mentioned, the positive momentum that we are seeing on all the
actions are starting to yield results. As I said, the cost increased last year and lagging by the price
increases. The price increase momentum is coming in. As that kicks in, that will start offsetting
some of these impacts, and as we move forward, in our view and the way we are driving these
actions, the positive momentum will carry us through better margins through the quarter moving
ahead.
Moderator:
The next question is from the line of Manik Taneja from JM financial. Please go ahead.
Manik Taneja:
Rohit, sorry to pester you on the on the margin outlook. I just wanted to get a sense as to what
are the different moving parts that have impacted our margin performance in second half of the
year because 6 months back, you hosted an analysts meet, suggested significant confidence on
sustaining 15% EBIT margin, and then subsequently in second half, you missed or margins have
been lower than that level. So, if you could help us understand what are the different levers that
Page 13 of 15
Tech Mahindra Limited May 13, 2022
have been working against you now? That’s question number 1 and the second thing is do our
wage hikes happen in one single quarter now because I caught one comment suggesting that
wage hikes would be spread out during the course of this quarter and subsequent quarter, so if
you could help us understand that?
Rohit Anand:
As I mentioned, we do that in batches, but there is one big batch, which will be predominant that
we said is going to be end June or July. From a margin perspective, let’s backtrack on what we
said. I think we said that we will be closer to the vicinity of 15%. The main difference from us
being there versus current 14.6% number is the amortization charge from an accounting
perspective that we had to take on some of the M&A activity that happened in the last few
months ending of the year. So, that caused a little bit of a headwind, which diluted the benchmark
that we had outlined for ourselves. As we look forward for next year, I think good part is the
actions that we’ve outlined for ourselves for giving us a positive momentum are starting to kick
in. The structural action on ‘juniorization’ we have taken has already given us the headwind on
the utilization being lower. Now, I think, that will start turning around. From the investments
we’ve made in areas of expanding our market to delivery centers to near shore operations as well
as tier 2 cities are also starting to help us in stemming attrition. As we move forward, we will
see some of these investments giving us the benefit and hence from a path perspective, I think
that journey continues, but the pressure on the cost side is continued. That market is still strong.
Hence, all these actions from an execution perspective have to be implemented impeccably for
us to continue the path and that’s what we’re aspiring for as a team.
Moderator:
The next question is from the line of Abhishek Shindadkar from InCred Capital. Please go ahead.
Abhishek Shindadkar:
The first question is can you give us a color about how the CY2021 numbers look like for some
of the larger acquisitions like project activation analysis. You had shared 9 months and 11
months data and CTC as well during the acquisition details, but any color in terms of how CY21
full year numbers were and calendar year 2022 looks like. The second question is on the capital
allocation. What is our strategy going forward? Any color on that could be helpful.
Rohit Anand:
As I had mentioned, our policy is to keep on looking at niche and complimentary assets that add
us win in the market place and situationally we got good assets last year, which added up to, as
somebody articulated also, a high M&A spend for us. Now, when we look at the following year,
our focus is going to be more organic and ensuring that we assimilate all these acquisitions into
the Company from a cultural, as well as go-to-market perspective so that we can get long-term
synergy benefits that we’ve envisioned with these assets. So, that’s going to be the focus and
from a capital allocation perspective, while we had articulated over a patch of three years,
whatever we earn as FCF minus the M&A spend, we will return back to the shareholders. So,
this year that math, if you just do, is kind of giving us no return from a shareholder’s perspective,
but still we said in that situation also we are comfortable with the cash balances we have as we
continue to offer the similar return as last year to the shareholder. So, that we’ll continue to stick
to our capital allocation policy that we had articulated before with a focus next year on more
Page 14 of 15
Tech Mahindra Limited May 13, 2022
organic and assimilating these M&A’s. In terms of numbers of all the acquisitions, exactly for
calendar year, I don’t have with me, but if you can offline touch base with Kaustabh, whatever
we’ve published we will share that with you. In terms of trend, all those acquisitions are being
closely monitored. Vivek who heads our M&A portfolio can add a comment, but we have a
robust process ensuring that we continue to see growth in those portfolios including a synergy
revenue and that visibility for calendar year 2020 looks very positive.
Vivek Agarwal:
The only thing I would add is the numbers on those three specific acquisitions, which were later
in the year, we are pretty much on plan and working very closely with the Management teams
to drive synergy and growth apart from whatever is the organic growth plan of those businesses.
That’s a quick summary of how those specific ones are doing.
Moderator:
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, due to time constraints, we take that as the last question for
today. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Rohit Anand for closing comments. Over to you,
sir.
Rohit Anand:
Thank you everybody for joining the call. I’ll just recap the year for us. Top-line growth of 17%,
EBIT expansion year-on-year basis, we’ve given record wins of $3.3 billion on deal wins, which
is 50% increase versus last year. All our significant verticals have grown, communication
leading the way and BFSI as big ones, and then if you look at dividend, we continue to stay on
the commitment we had on dividend to shareholders and we’ve given altogether between interim
and final dividend of Rs. 45. So, overall, that’s the summary for the year and we will continue
to keep on working as we move next year for similar performance. Thanks everybody for the
support and thanks for joining.
Moderator:
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Tech Mahindra Limited that concludes this
conference. Thank you all for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines.
Page 15 of 15