In December, Hexaware Technologies lowered its revenue guidance for the year from 20% to 18% due to cancellation of a project from a major client. In the December quarter, its revenue was $92.4 million, in line with its revised guidance. Now, the company is gung-ho that growth will be in double-digits this year, says Ramanan R V, executive director. A stronger continental Europe and better re-bid business will shape the company’s deal mining strategy, he told Beryl Menezes. Excerpts from the interview.

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Can you explain the change in Hexaware’s guidance stance?Hexaware’s revenues increased 16.3% to Rs502.30 crore ($92.4 million) during the reported quarter from Rs431.90 crore in the corresponding period last year. For the January-March 2013 quarter, Hexaware expects revenue to be in the region of $94-95 million, a sequential growth of 1.7% to 2.8%. We’re also looking at a 150-200 basis points margin improvement.

However, consolidated net profit has dipped 25% to Rs66.2 crore in the December quarter...For the full year (2012), net profit increased 22.7% to Rs327.60 crore, while revenue increased 34.3% to Rs1,948.20 crore. This shows that the specific issues in the fourth quarter (like the $450,000-hit on account of Hurricane Sandy and the project cancellation) are behind us. In fact, the cancelled project is now back on track. We’ll continue to successfully deliver, going forward, as we’ve been doing till last quarter.

Hexaware was in talks to acquire a North American software player, as well as for some acquisitions in the banking and healthcare verticals. What is the progress on it?We are actively pursuing these and hope to close one or more acquisitions by the third or fourth quarter.

Where do you see big business coming from?While the US, which makes up 55-70% of our revenues, will continue to grow at a healthy pace, we’re expecting higher growth in continental Europe, to be led by Germany – a major market for us. We also expect to see continued growth in discretionary spends, going forward.

BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance), a key vertical for Hexaware, is expected to grow...BFSI will continue to grow, and we also expect travel, transportation and healthcare verticals to grow at a higher pace.

What about wage hikes and pricing?Pricing marginally improved in the quarter, and is expected to be stable, going forward. We are still evaluating giving out wage hikes, which will depend on the prevailing economic situation.

The US is looking to increase visa quota for IT professionals. How willit play out for you?An increase in visa quota gives us a chance to apply for more visas later in the year on a need basis, as the quota won’t get exhausted as fast as before. As far as on-site hiring is concerned, this has already increased after the setting up of our Dallas centre.