There was a lot of excitement from analysts when Mahindra Satyam declared its audited FY09 and FY10 results after nearly two years. For the year ended March 2010, they reported a loss of Rs 124.60 crore on net sales of Rs 5,481 crore for. For year ended March 2009, the restated earnings showed a net loss at Rs 8,176.8 crore on net sales of Rs 8,812.6 crore.
On CNBC-TV18, three key people, Vineet Nayyar, Chairman, CP Gurnani, CEO and S Durgashankar, CFO of Mahindra Satyam took us through the numbers in detail and analysed this mix bag of numbers and what the road ahead was for Mahindra and Satyam.
Below is a verbatim transcript of their interview. Also watch the accompanying videos.
Q: Now that the FY09 and FY10 numbers are done with, can you specifically tell us how much longer would it take for the merger details and what are the loopholes that you need to figure out before the merger goes through?
Nayyar: Our intention was declared on April 13th the day we acquired or we were declared as winners of Mahindra Satyam. That intention is there but we cannot start the merger proceedings till our accounts are current and these will happen when we give up first and second quarter results which will be somewhere by November 15th.
Thereafter we will be in a position to initiate the merger proceedings which are long, which are elaborate, which requires going to the two high courts, which requires appointing of accountants for purposes of determining the swap ratio, then the swap ratios have to be proved by the board of the two respective companies and by their AGMs and then finally we will merge.
Q: Coming to clients – there has been a lot of traction, there have been exits but you have been adding clients. Tell us how strong the traction is looking in terms of the kind of contracts that are coming in right now. Are we seeing big bang contracts coming in or are they probably a smaller size of about USD 20-30 million deals?
Gurnani: The company was over the last 500 days in a revival phase and now it is in the recovery phase and in that revival phase a lot of effort was made to retain existing customers, to also build up on a roadmap for growth because if I go too early into the growth phase, the chances of Mahindra Satyam being successful but very limited.
The fundamental fact is that every CFO - when a company like a Coke or a state firm insurance or Caterpillar closes the doors on you when they say because you don’t have a statement of accounts and our risk officer considers it a risk because he has no other way of knowing whether the company is sustainable or not whether its stable or not. I think that phase is behind us.
To us this announcement of our results on September 29 is frankly a very big historic moment for us. Now we can go back aggressively and assertively into the market where we can start now talking about it. So big bang projects, till yesterday were not available to us. I do not expect them to happen overnight but fundamentally we believe that it is a sheer and a firm step to recovery.
Q: Give us a number as to the kind of deals that are coming in? A rough estimate of the kind of deals that we will see and across what verticals?
Gurnani: The fundamental fact is that our deal flow was relatively slower than others in the industry because we were also in a situation where we were differently placed. So it’s not fair for me to say what kind of a deal flow. That phase that we have just closed on September 29, was a phase in which the effort was more on revival, the effort was more on assurance and now is a phase on full recovery, full growth and for the next 18 months my full-time activity would be to focus on growth.
Q: In terms of the overall revenue contribution – geography wise, can you breakup as to what are the key geographies you are looking at. Obviously US, UK being very important but if you can give us numbers as to how the revenue contribution as per geography has been broken up so far?
Durgashankar: Our main contributors are US and Europe. It is around two-thirds from the US and around 15-20% from Europe.
Q: What are the other geographies that are leading to growth?
Durgashankar: You can see we have covered substantial part. There is Asia-Pacific, so by and large after that it will be smaller numbers.
Q: Coming to the employee count – by FY10 there is 27,000 employees. You did point out that you are going to campuses; you have been giving out hikes. Can you give us an estimate of the kind of projection intake that you would be looking at for FY11?
Nayyar: I presume we will be going to the campuses for about 3,000 more youngsters to join our company.
Q: Aside from that?
Nayyar: Aside from that there will be hiring at the experienced level also. We have not quite decided 3,000 maybe under estimate, we may have to go to a higher number but we are just working at the details.
Q: You pointed out that there has been through FY09 and FY10 voluntary as well as involuntary attrition, can you throw some more light on that?
Nayyar: You know what the numbers were when the fraud was under unraveled, you know what the numbers are now, and the difference is the attrition numbers. What was voluntary and what was not voluntary. I do believe we now have a right sized company that we are focused in reaching the competencies which we have started. The company has been reorganized in a fashion to make sure that they continue to remain the cutting edge of Satyam and that is what we are working at.
Q: Is there a number that you can give us as to how many were voluntary and involuntary for the two years?
Gurnani: I don’t think we are declaring that number because it is one of the most painful things that we went through as individuals since acquiring the company was the involuntary separations. The fundamental fact is that we have been used to growing the companies, we have been used to treating all our employees as our family members.
This separation was not an easy process. We tried easing it in a form and shape that it causes the least amount of separation pain because overall the economy wasn’t doing all that great at the time when we went through this. We decided as a management team that we will try and not talk about the involuntary part and we will also not talk about the numbers.
Q: Can you tell us in a nutshell, how was the right sizing exercise carried out?
Gurnani: If you recall, the alarm bells went out on December 16, 2008. Between December 16 and April 13, almost 190 accounts had walked out of the door or made it clear their intentions to walk out of the door. Having coming in that kind of an environment, right sizing was not only in terms of employees, it was in terms of trying to right size the operating metrics, it was the right sizing of infrastructure and it was the right sizing of communication networks. Many things that you develop and create over a period of time, to get that to an optimum level has been a fairly long and tedious journey.
Nayyar: And at times painful.
Q: Coming to your liabilities that are there right now, the Rs 1,230 crore figure that 37 creditors are asking including Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties, what is the status with these creditors? You have already said that this is unattainable – can you throw some light as to there has been any kind of discussion with them?
Nayyar: There have been no discussions with them. We believe that these are unattainable claims. They are going to court and the matter has already been taken cognizance off and so is the matter is sub-judice, I cannot talk about it any further. We will meet them in court.
Q: In terms of the UPAID transaction amount that was paid, has it been added to the P&L as yet or if not then by when are we expecting?
Nayyar: As soon as the money is transferred, we will make the necessary – but the provision has been made.
Q: Also talking about the class action lawsuits, what is the exact damage? What is the status with them, have there been discussions with them or are you willing to wait?
Nayyar: A class action suit normally has a life of about four years. We are going through that process; it is only a year and a half. I suspect this game will continue till about two-three years more. I am not very worried about it.
Q: Are there any more accounts left to be restated, any other details that need to be restated till the merger?
Nayyar: We have restated everything which had to be done. It is done and over with.
Q: Give us a final view on by when are we expecting a revival roadmap for Satyam and approximately what are the key areas that you have pointed out, obviously we are looking at a turnaround by when are we looking at a complete turnaround?
Gurnani: I think a complete turnaround will be when my growth percentage, when my utilization and when my profit percentages start getting into line with the industry. Ultimately whatever I might give you as a roadmap; the results have to speak for themselves.
What I am stating in front of you is exactly a plan or a roadmap which was submitted to the board of Tech Mahindra, which had representatives from Mahindras and independent directors about how this company would go through the stages of revival, growth and how we will start optimizing it for profit.
Q: What is the capex charted out for the next because you said that you will be expanding in Hyderabad, Chennai and couple of other areas?
Nayyar: I think at the moment it is about Rs 150 crore or so.
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