Polaris to build on surplus realty

Will monetise some of its assets, focus on products

MUMBAI: Polaris Software Labs plans to unlock value by developing its surplus real estate, a senior company official said.

“We are looking at monetising some assets. We have real estate which we can monetise in the future,” chairman and CEO Arun Jain told analysts. He didn’t provide further details.

Chennai-based Polaris Software is a banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) focused company, with about 90% of revenues coming from that sector. Since the past few years, it has been trying to focus more on products, which currently accounts for a fifth of the total revenues. Polaris sees a third of its revenues from products in two years.

Meanwhile, the company reported a 2% on-year rise in revenues to Rs284 crore. Net profit fell 41% on-year to Rs19 crore. The company said it had some extra ordinary expenses related to the implementation of its banking suit at a few locations, which impacted margins.

“It is possible to expand margins by about 800 basis points over the next few quarters. Of this, 300 basis points would come from license renewals, 50-100 from increases in billing rates, 100-150 from improved efficiency, about 150 basis points from investments, and the balance from increased business from Europe,” Jain said.

Polaris’s operating margins are about 12-13%.

Polaris had entered the products space in 2005 with the launch of Intellect banking suite. Intellect has been growing faster than the overall company. For the quarter ended December 31, Intellect revenues rose 30% from last year.

g_rabin@dnaindia.net