KPIT Technologies Ltd Q4 FY22 Earnings Conference Call Insights

Key highlights from KPIT Technologies Ltd (KPITTECH) Q4 FY22 Earnings Concall

Management Update:

• For FY23, KPIT said it’s looking at revenue growth in the range of 18-21% in constant currency, 18-19% EBITDA margin and about 25% volume growth.

• KPIT ended the year with a headcount of about 8,250 people.

Q&A Highlights:

• Karan Uppal from Phillip Capital asked about the $125 million client wins in 4Q and if all were T21 clients. Kishor Patil CEO said KPIT’s focus has been on T21 and most of the wins were for T21.

• Karan Uppal from Phillip Capital also enquired about the strong margin guidance and levers for its sustenance. Kishor Patil CEO said KPIT has shown increase in EBITDA margins over last seven quarters. The main levers of margin growth will be revenue growth, volume growth and higher realizations.

• Chandramouli Muthiah of Goldman Sachs asked about headcount increases and the skillsets the company is looking for. Kishor Patil CEO replied that KPIT has built relationships with universities and started engaging with students from year 2 or 3, which is the general skill development program. And in 4th year make the job offer. KPIT added that it looks for learnability and passion for automotive.

• Chandramouli Muthiah of Goldman Sachs also asked what percentage of business today is from new age OEM and semicon companies. Sachin Tikekar President said the company is testing the water and in the process of defining strategy. Currently it’s about 3-4%. And over a period of time the revenue will go up.

• Chandramouli Muthiah of Goldman Sachs asked about the cash balance increasing by 4 x in the past three years. Kishor Patil CEO said KPIT has a dividend policy, and in the next few years, it will get to about 35% of a payout ratio. KPIT added that it feels comfortable with that number as a payout for dividend.

• Nitin Padmanabhan from Investec asked about the $125-odd million of deals apart from the EUR70 million deal, if it was much better than last year on that number, excluding the large deal. Kishor Patil CEO said this is what KPIT closed during the quarter. It was not abnormally higher or low.

• Ankit Agrawal from Yellowstone Equity queried that KPIT being mostly into integration services, if the company is generating revenues from verification and validation services. Kishor Patil CEO replied that when the company says software integrator it works on any part of V or all of V, depending on the program. Therefore, verification and validation is a key area for KPIT and it  has been working on it for many years now.

• Ankit Agrawal from Yellowstone Equity asked that if KPIT is looking to get more into design and development of products over time or if the focus will be more into services only. Kishor Patil CEO replied that KPIT is more a software integration services company and do help in accelerating development on the new architecture platform for the client. KPIT added it will not have shrink-wrap products.

• Dave of Invest Yadna asked about KPIT’s business shrinking when OEMs start doing in-house software development. Kishor Patil CEO answered that KPIT’s role is that of a partner which helps its client OEM to succeed in this marketplace. And KPIT feels it’s very unlikely that every part of the software integration will be taken in-house by every OEM in future due to complexity.

• Andrey Purushottam from Cogito Advisors queried about the revenue per employee (RPE) showing slight decline over the quarters. Kishor Patil CEO replied that KPIT’s offshore has been increasing over the last four quarters. RPE is a function of the mix of revenues between on-site and off set. As a result, the revenue RPE has gone down due to increase in offshore.