Tata Elxsi Ltd Q2 FY23 Earnings Conference Call Insights

Key highlights from Tata Elxsi Ltd (TATAELXSI) Q2 FY23 Earnings Concall

Management Update:

• [00:05:21] TATAELXSI saw increased attrition in its onsite employees showing the talent mobility that continues in key overseas markets, especially for technology and engineering resources.

Q&A Highlights:

• [00:07:48] Bhavik Mehta of J.P. Morgan enquired if the growth slowdown in 2Q23 was mainly due to supply issues or anything else. Manoj Raghavan CEO said that as the number of programs that the company is winning it faced a talent crunch at those levels on the supply side. There was also some deferments of projects in media and communication and softness in top 5 accounts.

• [00:08:09] Bhavik Mehta of J.P. Morgan also asked about client’s thought on project execution given the macro environment. Manoj Raghavan CEO answered that customers are little cautious but as of now there is no cause of concern.

• [00:08:35] Bhavik Mehta of J.P. Morgan asked about sharp decline in margins, if it was due to more headcount addition than topline growth or something else and its outlook. Gaurav Bajaj CFO replied that the impact was due to the highest number of net headcount add of 1,532. Other costs were of three new facilities in Bangalore, Calicut and Chennai.

• [00:13:40] Sulabh Govila from Morgan Stanley enquired about the revenue impact from supply challenges. Manoj Raghavan CEO replied that the company has seen challenges across verticals. TATAELXSI added that margins would have been better if it had sufficient number of people at the mid-management to ramp up deals.

• [00:14:00] Sulabh Govila from Morgan Stanley asked if the company is facing challenges as part of new deal signings or discussions. Manoj Raghavan CEO answered that it’s seeing the challenges only in media and communication business. And both in the US and Europe, some deals are taking longer to close, while some customers are postponing the decision.

• [00:16:29] Sulabh Govila with Morgan Stanley asked that of the 1,500 people added, what’s the breakup of freshers and laterals. Manoj Raghavan CEO said that around 1,100-1,150 were freshers and about 350 laterals.

• [00:16:49] Sulabh Govila of Morgan Stanley also asked about the cost impact of headcount additions. Gaurav Bajaj CFO replied that that campus would have impacted margins by 120 bp and lateral, with some correction for the on-site people in 2Q23 would have impacted by 60 basis point. The remaining impact was due to facility expansions and operationalization.

• [00:18:40] Vimal Gohil with Alchemy Capital enquired about hiring outlook for 2H23. Manoj Raghavan CEO answered that TATAELXSI’s utilization has dropped to around 78.9% from 83-84%. The first focus is to get back utilization to above 80%. TATAELXSI will be careful about bulk hiring until utilization picks up.

• [00:26:13] Sandeep Agarwal from Naredi enquired about other expenses increasing to INR102 crore from INR82 crores, if there were any one-offs. Gaurav Bajaj CFO answered that there were some recruitment-related one-time expenses and ongoing expenses like travel cost, facilities, maintenance, utilities that has come back. It’s a mix of both.

• [00:28:17] Sameer Dosani from ICICI Prudential asked about 3Q being weaker due to furloughs and if the company is seeing some normalization. Manoj Raghavan CEO replied that in 3Q, the company did good growth and is not seeing any furloughs yet in the quarter. TATAELXSI expects to continue the trend like last time.

• [00:33:34] Sameer Dosani of ICICI Prudential asked about timeline of fresher deployment from a revenue perspective. Manoj Raghavan CEO said TATAELXSI is not looking at freshers from a margin perspective but is looking to build its bench strength for the next few quarters. The company added that around 100 freshers are billable now and the rest it is expecting to be billable in maybe 3Q23.

• [00:44:45] Akshay Ramnani from Axis Capital asked about outlook on offshoring. Manoj Raghavan CEO replied that offshoring continues to be strong. The onsite environment has become very difficult in US and Europe due to inflation and salary levels going high. However, with only 10% of company workforce onsite, TATAELXSI is pivoting with its customers strongly on offshore.

• [00:52:59] Urmil Shah from Ageas enquired about the softness on the media and communication business, if it’s more on the media or communication side. Manoj Raghavan CEO replied it’s a lot more on the media side. On the communication side, a lot of opportunities are coming up and TATAELXSI is investing there.