Tech Mahindra Limited Q2 FY23 Earnings Conference Call Insights

Key highlights from Tech Mahindra Limited (TECHM) Q2 FY23 Earnings Concall

Q&A Highlights:

• [00:10:04] Chira Pacharia from Ashika Institutional Equities asked about the bifurcation of enterprise and communication vertical in net new deal wins in 2Q23. Rohit Anand CFO replied that split cannot be given, but added that communication continues to benefit from the 5G tailwind.

• [00:10:14] Chira Pacharia from Ashika Institutional Equities enquired that geography wise, which territory was highly impacted due to the slowdown. Rohit Anand CFO answered that from a revenue growth perspective, geography growth is broad based. US grew 2.5%, while Europe 3.5% and RoW adjusted for currency grew 3.4%.

• [00:14:54] Ravi Menon of Macquarie asked about Hi-tech growth being strong for TECHM contrary to its peers and if it’s due to any new accounts. Rohit Anand CFO answered that it’s an area which is a growth driver. TECHM has invested both inorganically and organically in competencies that’s driving growth.

• [00:17:09] Ravi Menon with Macquarie enquired that given good deal wins and high utilization why TECHM has allowed its software headcount to decline QonQ. Rohit Anand CFO answered that it’s to improve operational efficiency and performance.

• [00:22:10] Rishi Jhunjhunwala from IIFL asked about the reason for the big gap between standalone and consolidated impairment charge taken in 2Q23. C P Gurnani MD replied that on the consol level it’s due to the small investment made a year ago that didn’t get the right anticipated value. At a standalone level, from a main impact perspective, it’s Target, where TECHM has taken the big impact.

• [00:23:39] Ruchi Burde with Elara Capital asked about portfolio pruning as a lever for margin, how it’s progressing and will be concluded. C P Gurnani MD replied that the actions are targeted around $100-120 million annualized revenue impact. TECHM has executed almost $60 million on an annualized basis and is close to executing the rest in the next two quarters.

• [00:24:03] Ruchi Burde Mukhija of Elara Capital asked about furloughs in December. Rohit Anand CFO replied that it’s not substantially different from what’s seen last time on furloughs, it might be marginally higher than what’s seen in the past.

• [00:27:04] Vibhor Singhal from Phillip Capital enquired if the company’s EBIT margin guidance remains with an exit rate of 14% in 4Q23.  Rohit Anand CFO answered that the headroom is still there and all operating levers will continue to drive that.

• [00:31:27] Mukul Garg of Motilal Oswal asked about the reason why BPO growth is strong while IT Services trails it. Rohit Anand CFO replied that BPO does have seasonality impact. And from an overall perspective BPO continues to drive better performance.

• [00:46:48] Girish Pai from Nirmal Bang asked if the guidance of $700 million to $1 billion of PCB still remains. Rohit Anand CFO replied that currently there is no reason to change.

• [00:47:29] Venkat Samala from DSP Investment  asked if the company expects a more sharper ramp up in margins vs. 30-40 bps seen in 2Q23. Rohit Anand CFO answered that TECHM’s actions still have headroom and will continue to drive that. Compared to first half there is little bit more uncertainty. So growth will have an impact going forward.

• [00:52:08] Viraj Kacharia from SiMPL asked that in terms of margins which geographies or verticals were impacted. Rohit Anand CFO said that in 2Q23 the impact is more on BFSI and the geography is RoW.