Latest news with #VenkatramanNarayanan
New Indian Express
14-05-2025
- Business
- New Indian Express
Happiest Minds eyes double-digit organic growth in FY26
BENGALURU: Mid-tier IT services company Happiest Minds, which reported a 53% decline in its consolidated net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 2025, expects double-digit growth in FY26, driven by its BFSI and healthcare verticals, and it aims to maintain the same 20-22% of EBITDA and about 16-16.5% to 17.5 or 18% of operating margin. The company posted a 53% decline in its consolidated net profit for the last quarter at Rs 34 crore as against the year-ago period's Rs 72 crore. Its revenue in the fourth quarter stood at Rs 545 crore, a 30.5% increase compared to Rs 417 crore in the same quarter last year, mainly driven by strong deal closures. In FY25, the company's revenue stood at Rs 2,061 crore compared to Rs 1,625 crore in FY24, a 26.8% growth. "Operating margin for the fourth quarter was at 14.6% compared to 17.5% in the previous quarter. We have been maintaining at 17+% over the year, but it came to 14.6% because of an unfortunate bad debt of Rs 12.5 crore that we took a hit for this quarter," Venkatraman Narayanan, MD & CFO, told TNIE. Its operating margin was at around 17.3% in FY25. Narayanan said that Rs 40 crore investments have been made into the business of AI and a new sales team that have been put in place by the company. Last year, the company acquired US-based Aureus Tech Systems for $8.5 million and PureSoftware Technologies for Rs 779 crore. "Our acquired companies are actually doing much better than what we had expected," he said. Joseph Anantharaju, Co-Chairman & CEO told TNIE that they are expecting BFSI and healthcare to drive growth. In Q4FY25, the company's BFSI vertical contributed 26.5% to its total revenues, followed by edutech at 17% and healthcare at 15.6%.
Time of India
13-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Happiest Minds' net profit halved in Q4 on major client default
Live Events IT services firm Happiest Minds Technologies on Tuesday reported a 32.1% on-quarter decline in net profit for Q4 FY25 to Rs 34 crore, which nearly halved compared to the fourth quarter of the previous fiscal, impacted by exceptional items on account of investments and recent acquisitions as well as a client for the January-March period grew 0.3% on-quarter and 25.6% on-year and stood at Rs 629 margins dipped from 24.5% to 14.6% on-year basis due to a Rs 12.5 crore write-off linked to a North America-based client who failed to meet payment obligations, Venkatraman Narayanan, MD and CFO, Happiest Minds told ET. However, it was purely bad debt and not related to ongoing macroeconomic factors, he clarified.'Despite the setback, we've managed to deliver stable performance. Our adjusted PAT has grown Rs 50 crore and EBITDA by Rs 100 crore year-over-year,' Narayanan said, adding that the company had invested Rs 40 crore into its new GenAI-focused business unit, which also contributed to the margin Minds' stock fell 2.59% to close at Rs 593.60 per share on the BSE company is hoping to grow with generative AI and improving macroeconomic conditions, as it looks to rebound from a tough fourth quarter impacted by a client default and sectoral Anantharaju, co-chairman and CEO said that the overall sentiment is now improving with global trade tensions easing and geopolitical risks subsiding. 'We are holding on to our guidance of double-digit revenue growth for FY26. Sentiment is definitely turning positive,' he said, noting that sectors like BFSI and healthcare are seeing renewed traction, while the high-tech vertical is stabilising post-client noted that GenAI is transitioning from proof-of-concept to full-scale deployment. 'Clients are moving from just slapping on a GenAI interface to rethinking their entire application architecture around GenAI,' he said. The company is now working on agentic AI models as well. 'We're seeing 10–25% productivity gains across software development and testing lifecycles,' he AI's impact on workforce, the company said most clients are using productivity improvements to accelerate roadmaps rather than cut costs. 'We haven't seen any client ramp-downs due to AI,' Anantharaju hiring, Happiest Minds is taking a calibrated approach. While it skipped campus hiring last year, it plans to return to campuses in the coming cycle, albeit with smaller intake. Wage hikes are still planned for July, although the final quantum will be determined closer to rollout.
