Saturday, October 27, 2012

Infosys has been definitely hit by the global slowdown

infosys has been definitely hit by the global slowdown, but it is also learning valuable lessons for its future, say virat bahri & arun roy of B&E

Part of that was thanks to the fact that the Lehmann debacle happened in the second half of the year. Moreover, the company managed a lot by means of cost cutting. Variable components of salaries were increased. Their reliance on repeat customers also came to their rescue. Also, rupee depreciation over the year was a welcome breather.

The challenge for Infosys would come now, in FY 2009-10. Recovery for the sector is expected to begin only by FY 2010-11. Understandably, the company has a relatively flat outlook for the current fiscal; with revenue projected to be in the range of Rs.214.16-217.47 billion and EPS to decline by 8.6-9.2% yoy. For Q1, 2008 -09, the company has reported a decline in revenues (in dollar terms) by 2.9% yoy to $1.12 billion. They did, however, manage a modest increase in net income after tax by 1.6% yoy to $313 million.

Meanwhile, the company seems to be getting aggressive with respect to diversifying its client base. Harit Shah, IT Analyst, Angel Broking, feels that the reliance on repeat business is not an issue per se; rather it is the fact that the company has clients like British Telecom (BT), which contribute a great deal to its revenues. Now when BT starts cutting IT spends the way it has over the past several quarters, Infosys obviously gets impacted. The company has added 27 clients in Q1 itself. Recent wins include Bancolombia and T-Mobile, UK.

Diversification in geographical spread and vertical presence is another challenge that the company wishes to take up. The problem here, again, as per Harit, is that emerging economies like India would take at least 4-5 years to contribute significantly to Infosys revenues. The same is true for verticals like retail, health care, transportation, et al. Investing in them will help, but one must not expect miracles.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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