Persistent Systems up 5% on strong TCV, in-line revenue growth in Q3

Shares of Persistent Systems were up 5 per cent at Rs 4,161.75 on the BSE in Thursday’s intra-day trade in an otherwise subdued market after the company reported a 6 per cent sequential increase in revenues at Rs 2,169.37 crore for the quarter ended December 2022 (Q3FY23), meeting Street estimates. The company reported 11th sequential quarter of revenue growth.

It's earnings before interest and tax (Ebit) was up 11.57 per cent at Rs 333.21 crore, while margin expanded to 15.36 per cent. Net profit grew 8.15 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) at Rs 237.95 crore in Q3FY23. The board approved an interim dividend of Rs 28 per share.

The company reported QoQ constant currency (CC) growth of 3.5 per cent for the quarter. In dollar terms, the company reported revenue of $264.4 million, up 3.5 per cent QoQ. Geography wise, North America (77.1 per cent of mix) reported muted growth of 1.5 per cent QoQ while Europe & India reported a growth of 12.2 per cent & 10.7 per cent respectively.

The company said it won several large deals across industries and service lines, driving 20 per cent sequential growth in total contract value (TCV) bookings during the quarter.

The order booking for the quarter ended on December 31, 2022, was at $440.2 million in TCV and at $326.3 million in Annual Contract Value (ACV) terms, Persistent Systems said.

ICICI Securities said revenue growth for the quarter was lower compared to earlier organic growth rate but that could have been impacted by furloughs. Growth in Europe was surprisingly strong considering geopolitical issues there but which is in line with other IT companies, which have been reporting strong growth in the region. US growth could have been impacted by furloughs.

TCV for the quarter was strong especially new deals wins which continue to remain robust at 54 per cent of TCV, suggests that growth is likely to rebound over the next few quarters. On the margin front, it continues to improve on account of supply side easing as LTM attrition continues to moderate and will provide support to margins in the medium term, the brokerage firm said in a note.