Happiest Minds Tech Q4 profit up 25% to Rs 72 crore

IT firm Happiest Minds Technologies reported a 24.83 per cent increase in consolidated net profits at Rs 71.98 crore for the quarter ended March 2024, and said it expects to encash on its newly launched GenAI business unit.

According to a stock exchange filing, the company clocked a profit of Rs 57.66 crore in the year-ago period.

Revenue from operations for the reporting quarter stood at Rs 417.29 crore, as against Rs 377.98 crore in Q4FY23, translating into a 10.4 per cent rise.

Revenue for the quarter was led by the edutech vertical (22.3 per cent), followed by healthcare (16.1 per cent).

Executive chairman Ashok Soota said the newly created Gen AI business unit, the creation of six new industry groups, and the successful closure of two acquisitions have put the company back on course towards accomplishing its 'long-term vision of USD 1 billion in revenues by FY31'.

Annual profits saw a 7.53 per cent rise to Rs 248.39 per cent, as compared to the previous fiscal's Rs 230.99 crore.

Revenue for financial year 2023-24 was at Rs 1,624.66 crore, a 13.66 per cent climb over FY23's Rs 1,429.29 crore.

"Happy to report a full-year revenue growth in constant currency of 11 per cent and EBITDA of 24.6 per cent. I am proud of our performance, especially in the face of a challenging year faced by our industry. Acquisition of PureSoftware Technologies and Macmillan Learning should help us in our growth story while delivering value to all our stakeholders," MD and CFO Venkatraman Narayanan said.

He gave an estimated growth guidance of 35-40 per cent for FY25.

Happiest Minds Technologies has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100 per cent equity interest in PureSoftware Technologies for a total purchase consideration of Rs 779 crore. The acquisition is expected to be completed before May 31, 2024.

The company's headcount as of Mar 31, 2024 was 5,168, at an attrition of 13 per cent.

"For FY24, part of our headcount has come from the campus batch... Our latest batch is ready for deployment... For fresher hiring, we are being agile in approach in going back to campus, we will take a call around August... Given the nature of digital space, there is wide range of technologies... And based on the demand, we do need to go and bring people on board," Joseph Anantharaju, executive vice chairman, said.

He further said the company's deal pipeline continues to be strong, "there was a dip in Q3 but Q4 was reflective of the changes that we made... Our efforts around GenAI are really paying off".

In October last year, the company established a new business unit, Generative AI Business Services (GBS). Soota said foray into GenAI is a transformational opportunity for the company.

Anantharaju said the IT firm expects to see growth through account expansion and 'aggressive account mining'.

Pre-tax profit (EBIT) at Rs 96.15 crore was up 21.18 per cent year-on-year.

Soota, during the company's press conference, said FY25 is poised to be the company's best year since its IPO.

The company recommended a final dividend of Rs 3.25 per equity share of Rs 2 each for the financial year ended March 31, 2024, subject to shareholders approval.