Rating Rationale
December 31, 2020 | Mumbai
Firstsource Solutions Limited
Long-term rating upgraded to 'CRISIL A+/Stable'; short-term rating reaffirmed
 
Rating Action
Total Bank Loan Facilities Rated Rs.470 Crore
Long Term Rating CRISIL A+/Stable (Upgraded from 'CRISIL A/Positive')
Short Term Rating CRISIL A1 (Reaffirmed)
1 crore = 10 million
Refer to annexure for Details of Instruments & Bank Facilities
Detailed Rationale

CRISIL has upgraded its rating on the long-term bank facility of Firstsource Solutions Limited (FSL) to 'CRISIL A+/Stable' from 'CRISIL A/Positive'. The rating on the company's short term debt facilities has been reaffirmed at 'CRISIL A1'.
 
The rating action reflects the sustained healthy operating performance, driven by healthy growth in revenues with its top client and banking sector, mainly led by the mortgage business. FSL's revenue grew by a healthy 14.5% in the first half of fiscal 2021. Improvement in revenues and cost efficiencies benefitted profitability. Operating margin remained healthy at 15.8% in first half of fiscal 2021 as against 15.2% in the corresponding period of previous fiscal.
 
Supported by improved collection of receivables, cash balance as of September 30, 2020 remained healthy at Rs 216 crore. Debt levels which had spiked temporarily in March 2020, due to payout of a second dividend in fiscal 2020, and delay in receivables due to the pandemic, have reduced by almost 30% as of September 30, 2020, due to better collection efforts.
 
FSL is expected to sustain its healthy business risk profile, with a double digit revenue growth over the medium term, supported by healthy prospects in mortgage business and traction in payer business. Also, the strategy of increased penetration in the more profitable technology segment is expected to support operating profitability. In December 2020, company completed the acquisition of Orlando, Florida based PatientMatters LLC. PatientMatters was founded in 2012 and serves a diverse customer-base across 24 states of USA. The total cost of acquisition was USD 13 million (Rs 96 crore) and was funded out of company's cash surplus. The acquisition is expected to further strengthen company's position in the healthcare provider segment.
 
Going forward, while the company would be open to acquisitions, ticket size is expected to be moderate. This coupled with growing cash flows from operations and prudent dividend payout policy, should lead to further improvement in financial risk profile, and key debt metrics, over the medium term

The ratings continue to reflect FSL's established market position in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, as well as healthy and diversified revenue profile with three major business verticals: healthcare, telecommunication (telecom) and media, and Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI), healthy operating profitability and favorable financial risk profile. These strengths are partially offset by high geographical and customer concentration in revenue, and exposure to intense competition in the BPO sector.

Analytical Approach

* For arriving at the ratings, CRISIL has combined the business and financial risk profiles of FSL and its subsidiaries, as all the entities are under a common management and in the same line of business, and have strong financial and operational linkages.
* For arriving at the adjusted financials, CRISIL has amortized goodwill on acquired businesses over a period of 10 years.

Please refer Annexure - Details of Consolidation, which captures the list of entities considered and their analytical treatment of consolidation.

Key Rating Drivers & Detailed Description
Strengths
* Established market position and revenue diversity: FSL has established itself as a prominent player in the BPO space. The company benefits from its scale of operations and revenue diversity across verticals. FSL has created a strong market position through organic growth, supplemented by acquisitions. Its revenue profile is well-diversified among the three verticals; BFSI being the largest vertical followed by healthcare and Telecom & Media contributing 40.5%, 32.9% and 23.4% respectively in fiscal 2020
 
* Healthy operating profitability: Over the last few years, FSL has taken initiatives for rationalising its costs through alignment of its delivery centres which contributed towards improvement in the operating profit margin. Additionally, company's focus on profitable growth through reduction in business from low margin clients (both domestic and overseas), increasing use of digital technologies, growth in collection services and improving performance of acquired businesses has also benefitted profitability. CRISIL believes FSL will be able to sustain its current healthy operating margin over the medium term.
 
* Healthy financial risk profile: Debt repayment and absence of large, debt-funded capex has helped FSL improves capital structure over time. There was a temporary spike in the gearing level to 1.57 times at March 31, 2020, due to higher debt levels, following sizeable dividend payout and elongation of the receivable cycle, which has since normalized. Other debt metrics are at adequate levels, and should improve over time. Liquidity is likely to remain healthy over the medium term because of steady cash flow generation (in excess of Rs.300 crore annually), and prudent capex funding.
 
Weakness
* High geographical and customer concentration in revenue: FSL derived 61% of its revenue from the US in fiscal 2020, and the rest from India and the UK. The geographical concentration in revenue, especially from the US, exposes FSL to risks relating to economic slowdown in the region and to volatility in the value of the Indian rupee against the US dollar. Also, customer concentration risks persist. However, during fiscal 2020, the top client contributed about 21% to revenue while the top five contributed 41% which has improved from 28% and 46% respectively in fiscal 2018. CRISIL believes FSL's revenue will remain concentrated in the US over the medium term, driven by the healthcare and telecom segments.
 
* Susceptibility to intense competition in the BPO sector: With the rapid evolution of the Indian IT Enabled Services (ITeS) sector, competition is intense as companies compete for a share of the outsourcing pie. FSL faces tough competition from other pure-play ITeS players such as Genpact, WNS (Holdings) Ltd, Convergys Corporation and Hinduja Global Solutions Ltd (CRISIL A+/Stable/CRISIL A1+), besides BPO operations of large information technology (IT) companies such as Accenture Plc,  Infosys Ltd (rated 'CRISIL AAA/Stable/CRISIL A1+') and Wipro Ltd. Further, the increasing wage cost as well as costs associated with hiring and training fresh talent remains a big challenge. CRISIL believes that FSL will continue to face increasing competition in the market place as well as for talent.
Liquidity Strong

FSL enjoys strong liquidity driven by expected cash accruals of Rs. 350-450 crore per annum in fiscal 2021 and 2022 and cash and cash equivalents of Rs. 215 crore as on September 30, 2020. FSL also has access to fund based limits of Rs 648 crore, utilized sparsely over the 12 months ended November 2020. While the company would be open to acquisitions, ticket size is expected to be moderate. CRISIL believes the company has sufficient accruals to finance its capex requirements and investment requirements. Its unutilized bank lines are more than adequate to meet its incremental working capital needs.

Outlook: Stable

Strong deal pipeline & favourable outlook in mortgage business and traction in payer business is expected to drive revenues over the medium term. Profitability is expected to remain range bound at 13-14%, leading to steady cash generation, and support improvement in debt metrics.

Rating Sensitivity factors
Upward factors:
* Increased customer diversity, and sustenance of healthy deal pipeline leading to continued double digit revenue growth and operating profitability of 14-15%
* Sustenance of adequate and improving financial risk profile
* Shoring up of liquid surpluses, supported by better operational cash flows

Downward factors:
* Sharp deterioration in revenue growth, and operating margin of below 10-11%
* Rise in  debt levels due to sizeable  capex or acquisitions or higher than expected dividend pay-out/share-buyback or support offered to group companies, impacting debt metrics, and build-up of cash surpluses

About the Company

FSL provides BPO services across three verticals: telecom and media, healthcare, and BFSI. The company has a global delivery model, with 23,960 employees and 39 delivery centres across the US, the Philippines, India, and UK. The company was promoted by ICICI Bank Ltd in 2001. The bank's stake has reduced over the years and as on September 30, 2019 holds 4.62%.

In fiscal 2012, Spen Liq Pvt Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of CESC Ltd (part of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka group) acquired 56.82% stake in Firstsource to become the majority shareholder. Following restructuring in the RP Sanjiv Goenka group, majority ownership of 56.82% in FSL, now vests with 53.82%.

Key Financial Indicators
Particulars Unit 2020 2019
Revenue Rs Crore 4099 3827
Profit after tax(PAT) ^ Rs Crore 340 378
PAT Margins^ % 8.3 9.9
Adjusted Debt/Adjusted Net Worth Times 1.57 0.93
Interest Coverage Times 9.72 12.12
^PAT adjusted for goodwill amortization till FY2018

Any other information: Not applicable

Note on complexity levels of the rated instrument:
CRISIL complexity levels are assigned to various types of financial instruments and are included (where applicable) in the Annexure -- Details of Instrument in this Rating Rationale. For more details on the CRISIL complexity levels, please visit www.crisil.com/complexity-levels.
Annexure - Details of Instrument(s)
ISIN Name of Instrument Date of Allotment Coupon rate (%) Maturity Date Issue size (Rs Cr) Complexity level Rating Assigned with Outlook
NA Cash Credit/Overdraft Facility NA NA NA 25.00 NA CRISIL A+/Stable
NA Cash Credit/Overdraft Facility* NA NA NA 70.00 NA CRISIL A+/Stable
NA Cash Credit/Overdraft Facility** NA NA NA 30.00 NA CRISIL A+/Stable
NA Bank Guarantee NA NA NA 40.00 NA CRISIL A1
NA Overdraft# NA NA NA 40.00 NA CRISIL A1
NA Packing Credit in Foreign Currency# NA NA NA 171.25 NA CRISIL A1
NA Packing Credit in Foreign Currency^ NA NA NA 93.75 NA CRISIL A1
*Interchangeable with Packing Credit in Foreign Currency, Pre Shipment Credit in Forex and Standby Line of Credit
**Interchangeable with Packing Credit in Foreign Currency, Pre Shipment Credit in Forex and Bill Discounting
#Interchangeable with Pre Shipment Credit in Forex
^Fully interchangeable with Post Shipment Credit in Foreign Currency and Standby Line of Credit
 
Annexure - List of entities consolidated
Entities Consolidated Extent of consolidation Rationale for consolidation
Firstsource Group USA, Inc. Full common management, similar line of business, business and financial linkages, and common promoters
Firstsource Solutions UK Limited Full
Firstsource Solutions S.A. Full
Firstsource Advantage LLC Full
Firstsource Business Process Services, LLC Full
Firstsource Health Plan Services LLC Full
Firstsource Process Management Services Limited Full
Firstsource BPO Ireland Limited Full
Firstsource Dialog Solutions (Private) Limited Full
One Advantage LLC Full
MedAssist Holdings LLC Full
Firstsource Solutions USA, LLC Full
Sourcepoint, Inc. Full
Sourcepoint Fulfillment Services, Inc. Full
Sourcepoint Fulfillment Agency, LLC Full
Firstsource Employee Benefit Trust Full
Annexure - Rating History for last 3 Years
  Current 2020 (History) 2019  2018  2017  Start of 2017
Instrument Type Outstanding Amount Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Rating
Fund-based Bank Facilities  LT/ST  430.00  CRISIL A+/Stable/ CRISIL A1      04-09-19  CRISIL A/Positive/ CRISIL A1  26-07-18  CRISIL A/Stable/ CRISIL A1  01-08-17  CRISIL A-/Stable/ CRISIL A2+  CRISIL A-/Positive/ CRISIL A2+ 
Non Fund-based Bank Facilities  LT/ST  40.00  CRISIL A1      04-09-19  CRISIL A1  26-07-18  CRISIL A1  01-08-17  CRISIL A2+  CRISIL A2+ 
All amounts are in Rs.Cr.
Annexure - Details of various bank facilities
Current facilities Previous facilities
Facility Amount (Rs.Crore) Rating Facility Amount (Rs.Crore) Rating
Bank Guarantee 40 CRISIL A1 Bank Guarantee 40 CRISIL A1
Cash Credit/ Overdraft facility 25 CRISIL A+/Stable Cash Credit/ Overdraft facility 25 CRISIL A/Positive
Cash Credit/ Overdraft facility* 70 CRISIL A+/Stable Cash Credit/ Overdraft facility* 70 CRISIL A/Positive
Cash Credit/ Overdraft facility** 30 CRISIL A+/Stable Cash Credit/ Overdraft facility** 30 CRISIL A/Positive
Overdraft# 40 CRISIL A1 Overdraft# 40 CRISIL A1
Packing Credit in Foreign Currency# 171.25 CRISIL A1 Packing Credit in Foreign Currency# 171.25 CRISIL A1
Packing Credit in Foreign Currency^ 93.75 CRISIL A1 Packing Credit in Foreign Currency^ 93.75 CRISIL A1
Total 470 -- Total 470 --
*Interchangeable with Packing Credit in Foreign Currency, Pre Shipment Credit in Forex and Standby Line of Credit
**Interchangeable with Packing Credit in Foreign Currency, Pre Shipment Credit in Forex and Bill Discounting
#Interchangeable with Pre Shipment Credit in Forex
^Fully interchangeable with Post Shipment Credit in Foreign Currency and Standby Line of Credit
Links to related criteria
CRISILs Approach to Financial Ratios
CRISILs Bank Loan Ratings - process, scale and default recognition
Rating criteria for manufaturing and service sector companies
Rating Criteria for Software Industry
CRISILs Criteria for Consolidation

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