Coforge outperforms peers in Q1 as Sabre deal ramp-up aids strong growth

Technology services provide Coforge Ltd. reported results on Wednesday, July 23, after market hours, which were better than expected on most fronts and also outperformed its peers.

Coforge reported constant currency revenue growth of 8% during the June quarter, while estimates had projected the growth to be between 6.5% to 7%. In comparison, its peers like Persistent Systems and LTIMindtree reported constant currency revenue growth of 3.3% and 0.8% respectively.

Growth during the quarter was led by a ramp-up of the $1.6 billion Sabre deal, which enabled a 31% sequential growth in the travel, tourism and hospitality business of the company.

In US Dollar terms, Coforge's revenue grew by 9.5% from the March quarter to $442 million. A CNBC-TV18 poll had expected the US Dollar revenue to be $439 million.

EBIT margins remained unchanged at 13.2%, compared to the 13.5% expectation. EBITDA margins saw a 60 basis points expansion to 17.5% from 16.9% in March.

Order wins for the quarter stood a $507 million, compared to the $2.1 billion in the previous quarter, but the previous quarter includes the large Sabre deal as well. Business worth $1.54 billion is executable over the next 12 months, which implies a growth of 3% sequentially and 44% from the same quarter last year.

Coforge's BFS business declined by 1.1% during the quarter, while the insurance business grew 1% sequentially in US Dollar terms.

Revenue in rupee terms also grew by 8.6% sequentially to ₹3,687 crore, which is marginally lower than the ₹3,759 crore estimate.

Shares of Coforge gave up gains from the early part of trade on Wednesday to end 0.7% lower at ₹1,846.2. The stock has remained flat in the last one month.