Mastek Ltd Q4 FY23 Earnings Conference Call Insights

Key highlights from Mastek Ltd (MASTEK) Q4 FY23 Earnings Concall

Management Update:

• [00:05:32] MASTEK said its attrition was 21% on a 12-month basis, which is a drop of 700 bps from a year ago.

• [00:11:10] MASTEK’s order backlog and pipeline remain at a healthy level and its salesforce business has delivered 118% of the acquisition plan.

Q&A Highlights:

• [00:16:26] Baidik Sarkar from Unifi Capital asked what is going on with Oracle’s softness and can MASTEK expect the acceleration in the UK to continue for the rest of the year and what’s causing the lack of growth in US sales. Hiral Chandrana Global CEO said Oracle’s business grew, despite softness in previous quarters, due to an increased number of working days and currency help in the UK market. The US, however, has been disappointing due to delays in investments and a drop in Oracle Cloud Commerce.

• [00:22:13] Baidik Sarkar with Unifi Capital asked if the company is done with the entire payouts and dilution that was due to the promoters of Evosys. Arun Agarwal Global CFO answered that the company is done with two tranche, with one pending. The pending one will happen in October 2023.

• [00:23:23] Mohit Jain from Anand Rathi queried about the significant increase in employee expenses in the current quarter compared to the previous one. Hiral Chandrana Global CEO said the overall increase in cost is due to currency conversion, a decrease in headcount at the end of the month, investing in talent and semi-standards, and referring better talent.

• [00:23:41] Mohit Jain with Anand Rathi also asked about an update on the company’s current status with subcontractors and how this will impact future growth. Hiral Chandrana Global CEO replied that MASTEK is not comfortable with its subcontractors percentage to the overall work. MASTEK is therefore looking to improve its GM and EBITDA profile in order to convert some of those subcontractors into full employees.

• [00:25:50] Mohit Jain with Anand Rathi queried if MASTEK expect the growth in BFSI vertical to continue and should MASTEK expect more growth with regards to UK health. Arun Agarwal Global CFO said so far, the financial services sector has not been a broad-based sector for MASTEK, but it does have some good accounts in the UK, US, and Middle East. This particular account is a large US-headquartered organization that MASTEK has seen some momentum and deals with, but it’s more account specific than across-the-board within the industry.

• [00:29:41] Mohit Jain of Anand Rathi asked if Oracle is 45-47% of the business. Hiral Chandrana Global CEO clarified that Oracle and Salesforce put together combined is about 45-47%.

• [00:35:57] Ravi Menon from Macquarie asked if the Oracle business model changed to become more annuity-oriented, or is it still dependent on a steady stream of larger deals. Hiral Chandrana Global CEO said the company has shifted its focus to include more managed services and annuity work, resulting in smaller average deal sizes but with longer term stickiness. MASTEK is still doing projects and implementations, but the mix is changing significantly.

• [00:37:37] Ravi Menon from Macquarie asked if the company is seeing its customers show reluctance to commit capex and projects being put on hold. Hiral Chandrana Global CEO said MASTEK experienced delays in 4Q due to equipment and facility issues, and approval cycles are taking longer than anticipated. MASTEK is focusing on optimizing customer spending by modernizing its operations and providing its functional architecture and industry knowledge, but this may impact the industry over the next few quarters.

• [00:40:00]  Amit Chandra from HDFC Securities queried on the NHS recovery in terms of the NHS account, modular holidays, completion rate, and any changes to the contract structure. Hiral Chandrana Global CEO said MASTEK has taken a conservative approach to government services growth due to the uncertainty of NHS, but remain optimistic about its prospects due to the investments in this area.

• [00:42:20] Amit Chandra from HDFC Securities asked about the kind of growth expected from investments in the UK private sector, especially in financial services and retail. Hiral Chandrana Global CEO answered that the UK private sector is an area of growth for the company. In the US, the strategy has been tweaked to focus on cost savings and value proposition. This includes account mining, provider payers, fee lines in Oracle and big data streams.

• [00:47:05] Zubeyr Mondrian with Investment Partners asked about information on debt repayments or additional borrowing for further M&A. Arun Agarwal Global CFO said MASTEK don‘t plan to take on any new debt unless it gets involved in inorganic activities. MASTEK will pay off existing debt liabilities over the year, and the debt taken for the purpose of an M&A acquisition will be paid off over the next few years.

• [00:51:09] Zubeyr Mondrian with Investment Partners queried about the organic growth the company has achieved for the full year and quarter compared to the previous year. Hiral Chandrana Global CEO said Salesforce acquisition has been successful, leading to strong growth in FY23. Expectations are that this momentum will continue into FY24, with good year-on-year growth seen in 4Q.

• [00:57:37] Sachin Kasera asked about the reason for pressure in margins in 4Q23. Hiral Chandrana Global CEO replied that investment is being made in the Americas to increase growth, and this will lead to margins returning to normal levels.

• [01:00:36]  Sachin Kasera asked about cash flow from operations coming down to INR100 crore vs. INR270 crore last year and if there’s any one offs. Arun Agarwal Global CFO said that cash from operations has decreased this year, reflected in an increased DSO of 93 days. A team has been formed to work on bringing it down, with the goal of achieving a free-cash flow of 75-80% next year.

• [01:05:51] Darshit Vora from RoboCapital asked about a ballpark view on the revenue in the next 2-3 years, and timeframe to bring EBITDA and PAT margins to previous levels. Hiral Chandrana Global CEO replied MASTEK is pleased with its current performance and expect FY24 to be a strong year. MASTEK believes it will match or exceed industry standards for growth. MASTEK plans to reinvest in the business before attempting to improve its operating EBITDA.