Happiest Minds’ stock has dropped more than 34% in the first half of the year. The stock closed at Rs 881 today (December 27), up 0.9 percent from the previous close on the BSE. Happiest Minds MD & CFO Venkatraman Narayanan told CNBC-TV18 that the company is sticking to its revenue guidance of 25% for FY23.
He said in retail terms he can see some correction in revenues, but as the company does not work with traditional banks, he does not expect much weakness on the revenue front. “That’s what gives us confidence and we are holding on to our guidance of 25 percent for the current year,” added Narayanan.
However, when looking at this quarter, Q3, we have fewer working days, and given the number of holidays, billing or revenues tend to be slightly lower. So, looking at it on a quarterly basis, that’s the only impact we’re seeing right now, due to holidays and people taking accumulated leave. “There may be a slight decrease in revenue,” he added.
The company, led by Ashok Soota, earned Rs 59.4 crore in net profit for the July-September quarter, up 33.7 percent from the same period last year. Profit increased by 5.4 percent sequentially. Revenue increased 34.4 percent year on year and 8.1 percent sequentially in the third quarter.
Happiest Minds: Startups account for 8% of our business; there is no sign of a slowdown for well-funded companies.
Narayanan went on to say that they are sticking to their EBITDA guidance of 22-24 percent. “Happy to say that we have beaten that in 10 quarters and we have been doing 25-26 percent and as of now we are holding on to that kind of range. “I don’t see any major issues,” he stated.
The Bangalore-based company’s EBITDA margin was 26.3 percent in the July-September quarter, up 34.1 percent from the same period last year.
