Rating Rationale
March 31, 2020 | Mumbai
Hinduja Global Solutions Limited
Ratings Reaffirmed
 
Rating Action
Total Bank Loan Facilities Rated Rs.500 Crore
Long Term Rating CRISIL A+/Stable (Reaffirmed)
Short Term Rating CRISIL A1+ (Reaffirmed)
 
Rs.125 Crore Commercial Paper Programme CRISIL A1+ (Reaffirmed)
1 crore = 10 million
Refer to annexure for Details of Instruments & Bank Facilities
Detailed Rationale

CRISIL has reaffirmed its 'CRISIL A+/Stable/CRISIL A1+' ratings on the bank facilities and commercial paper programme of Hinduja Global Solutions Limited (HGSL).
 
The ratings continue to reflect a healthy business risk profile, supported by a presence in diverse verticals and geographies, and a sound financial risk profile driven by comfortable debt protection metrics and strong liquidity. These strengths are partially offset by geographical and customer concentration in revenue, and exposure to intense competition in the business process management (BPM) industry.
 
The company provides critical support services and derives over 50% of revenue from the healthcare vertical. It has not yet faced any cancellations of existing contracts due to the impact of Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19). It is taking measures to minimise disruptions in operations following the lockdown in various geographies. Liquidity is adequate in the form of unutilised bank lines and liquid surplus of Rs 620 crore (equivalent of 5.5 months of employee costs) to manage operations even if cash inflow is impacted for 2-3 months.
 
CRISIL has noted the measures undertaken by the central and various state governments towards containment of Covid-19, including temporary closure of non-critical establishments and inter-state transportation till mid-April 2020. The ability of the company to sustain operational stability and any relief measures provided by the government will be key monitorables.
 
In January 2020, the company completed the sale of its Indian Domestic Customer Relationship Management Business to Altruist Technologies (Altrust) for around Rs 100 crore (including working capital of Rs 60 crore). It transferred over 7,000 employees along with 32 client contracts and 9 delivery centres to Altruist.
 
Revenue in the continuing operations grew 13% in first nine months of fiscal 2020 over the previous fiscal, primarily led by growth in the healthcare vertical (52% of revenue) and improvement in performance of acquired entities. Over the medium term, growth is expected to be driven by increased focus on the core healthcare vertical, leading to strong deal wins, expansion of client portfolio and stabilisation of Axis Point Health (AxisPoint).
 
In the first nine months of fiscal 2020, the operating profitability margin improved to 13.2% from 8.8% in the previous fiscal primarily due to better capacity utilisation, renegotiated contracts with clients, premium service offerings, and lower operating losses in AxisPoint, following cost rationalisation measures and better synergies. The financial risk profile should remain healthy in the absence of any large, debt-funded capital expenditure (capex) or acquisition.

Analytical Approach

For arriving at the ratings, CRISIL has combined the business and financial risk profiles of HGSL and all its subsidiaries, held directly or indirectly, as all the entities share a common management, and operate in a similar line of business with significant operational and financial linkages. CRISIL considers these entities as being strategic to HGSL in view of their strong integration with the parent's operations. The goodwill arising from acquisitions has been amortised over 10 years, and software and commercial rights, in line with company policy, over 3-6 years and 10 years, respectively

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
* Presence in diverse verticals: The company is present across multiple verticals such as healthcare, telecommunication (telecom), consumer products, and banking and financial services, to cater to flexible client requirements. On-boarding of new clients in e-commerce and media segments should bolster revenue. Revenue growth is likely to remain moderate over the medium term, driven by the strong position as a diversified market player and niche acquisitions in the healthcare segment.
 
* Healthy financial risk profile: Debt repayment and absence of large, debt-funded capex have helped to sustain a healthy capital structure, indicated by a gearing of 0.36 time as on March 31, 2019. Despite a couple of acquisitions in fiscal 2018 and 2019, debt protection metrics remain strong, with net cash accrual to total debt ratio at 0.58 time and interest coverage ratio at 11.18 times during fiscal 2019. Liquidity is likely to remain healthy over the medium term, driven by substantial net cash accrual and prudent capex funding.
 
Weaknesses
* High geographical and customer concentration in revenue: About 84% of revenue was derived from the US and Canada in first half of fiscal 2020, and the rest from India (10%) and the UK (6%). The geographical concentration in revenue, especially in the US, which accounts for 74%, exposes the company 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, despite a customer base of 245 core BPM clients and 674 clients in the payroll business as on December 31, 2019. During fiscal 2019, the top client contributed 17% to revenue while the top five contributed 48%. Revenue is likely to remain concentrated in the US and Canada over the medium term, driven by the healthcare and telecom segments.
 
* Exposure to intensifying competition, impacting price flexibility and cost management: The information technology-enabled services industry is highly competitive. Service quality, price, reliability, breadth of services, and data security technology determine margins. Competition comes from other established players such as Genpact, WNS (Holding) Ltd, and Firstsource Solutions Ltd ('CRISIL A/Positive/CRISIL A1'). Also, increasing wages and costs associated with hiring, training, and retaining talent pose challenges for adequate staffing and seat utilisation. Profitability will remain susceptible to intensifying competition, rising employee cost, and the ability to transfer any cost increase to customers.
Liquidity Strong

Cash accrual is expected at Rs 500-600 crore per fiscal over the medium term, while cash and cash equivalents were around Rs 620 crore as on September 30, 2019. The company also has access to an adequate bank limit of Rs 325 crore, which was mostly unutilised in the 12 months through February 2020. The company has long-term debt repayment obligation of Rs 60-75 crore each in fiscals 2020 and 2021 and capex of around Rs 145 crore per fiscal. Cash accrual and cash and cash equivalents should be sufficient to meet repayment obligation, capex, and investment requirement in various subsidiaries and joint ventures. With a gearing of 0.31 time as of March 31, 2019, there is sufficient headroom, to raise additional debt for capex requirement. Unutilised bank lines are more than adequate to meet incremental working capital needs over the next one year.

Outlook: Stable

CRISIL believes the business risk profile will continue to be supported by an established client relationship, while the financial risk profile should remain strong supported by increasing cash accrual and a healthy cash reserve, over the medium term.

Rating Sensitivity factors
Upward factors:
* Substantial and sustained growth in revenue while maintaining the EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) margin at over 14%
* Continued improvement in the financial risk profile, backed by better liquidity
 
Downward factors:
* Slowdown in key markets, leading to significant pressure on revenue and a decline in the EBITDA margin to below 10%
* Large, debt-funded acquisition impacting the financial risk profile, and the cash and cash equivalent balance falling below Rs 250 crore
About the Company

HGSL is part of the Hinduja group, which includes Ashok Leyland Ltd, IndusInd Media and Communications Ltd, and IndusInd Bank Ltd ('CRISIL AA+/CRISIL AA/Stable/CRISIL A1+'). HGSL provides business process outsourcing (BPO) services, primarily back-office processing and contact centre services, to domestic and international clients. As on January 31, 2020, it had 61 delivery centres in 7 countries, and 38,872 employees.
 
For the first nine months of fiscal 2020, profit after tax (PAT) was Rs 153.46 crore (Rs 128.17 crore in the corresponding period of fiscal 2019) on an operating income of Rs 3,701 crore (Rs 3,277 crore) from continuing operations.

Key Financial Indicators
Particulars Unit 2019 2018
Revenue Rs crore 4789 3855
Profit after tax Rs crore 176 192
PAT margin % 3.7 5.0
Adjusted debt/adjusted networth Times 0.36 0.39
Interest coverage Times 11.18 12.75

Any other information: Not applicable

Note on complexity levels of the rated instrument:
CRISIL complexity levels are assigned to various types of financial instruments. The CRISIL complexity levels are available on www.crisil.com/complexity-levels. Users are advised to refer to the CRISIL complexity levels for instruments that they consider for investment. Users may also call the Customer Service Helpdesk with queries on specific instruments.
Annexure - Details of Instrument(s)
ISIN Name of instrument Date of allotment Coupon rate (%) Maturity date Issue size (Rs cr) Rating assigned with outlook
NA Commercial Paper NA NA 7-365 days 125.00 CRISIL A1+
NA Cash credit* NA NA NA 290.00 CRISIL A+/Stable
NA Packing credit NA NA NA 10.00 CRISIL A1+
NA Proposed working capital facility NA NA NA 50.00 CRISIL A+/Stable
NA Proposed term loan NA NA NA 150.00 CRISIL A+/Stable
*Interchangeable with post-shipment credit and other WC financing instruments
 
Annexure - List of entities consolidated
Name of the entity Extent of consolidation Rationale for consolidation
Hinduja Global Solutions Limited Full Holding
HGS International Full Co-Subsidiary
Hinduja Global Solutions Inc. Full Co-Subsidiary
HGS Properties LLC Full Co-Subsidiary
HGS Canada Holdings LLC Full Co-Subsidiary
HGS Canada Inc. Full Co-Subsidiary
HGS EBOS LLC Full Co-Subsidiary
HGS (USA) LLC Full Co-Subsidiary
HGS Healthcare LLC Full Co-Subsidiary
Affina Company Full Co-Subsidiary
Hinduja Global Solutions Europe Limited Full Co-Subsidiary
Hinduja Global Solutions UK Limited Full Co-Subsidiary
HGS France S.A.R.L Full Co-Subsidiary
C-Cubed N.V Full Co-Subsidiary
C-Cubed B.V Full Co-Subsidiary
Customer Contact Centre Inc. Full Co-Subsidiary
HGS St. Lucia Limited Full Co-Subsidiary
Team HGS Limited Full Co-Subsidiary
HGS Mena FZ LLC Full Co-Subsidiary
HGS Colibrium Inc Full Co-Subsidiary
Element Solutions LLC Full Co-Subsidiary
HGS Axis Point Helath LLC Full Co-Subsidiary
Falcon Health Solutions Puerto Rico Holding LLC Full Co-Subsidiary
Falcon Health Solutions Puerto Rico LLC Full Co-Subsidiary
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
Commercial Paper  ST  125.00  CRISIL A1+      14-03-19  CRISIL A1+  12-12-18  CRISIL A1+  09-11-17  CRISIL A1+  CRISIL A1+ 
                15-02-18  CRISIL A1+  19-05-17  CRISIL A1+   
Fund-based Bank Facilities  LT/ST  500.00  CRISIL A+/Stable/ CRISIL A1+      14-03-19  CRISIL A+/Stable/ CRISIL A1+  12-12-18  CRISIL A+/Stable/ CRISIL A1+  09-11-17  CRISIL A+/Stable/ CRISIL A1+  CRISIL A+/Stable/ CRISIL A1+ 
                15-02-18  CRISIL A+/Stable/ CRISIL A1+  19-05-17  CRISIL A+/Stable/ CRISIL A1+   
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
Cash Credit* 290 CRISIL A+/Stable Cash Credit* 250 CRISIL A+/Stable
Packing Credit 10 CRISIL A1+ Packing Credit 75 CRISIL A1+
Proposed Term Loan 150 CRISIL A+/Stable Proposed Term Loan 150 CRISIL A+/Stable
Proposed Working Capital Facility 50 CRISIL A+/Stable Proposed Working Capital Facility 25 CRISIL A+/Stable
Total 500 -- Total 500 --
*Interchangeable with post-shipment credit and other WC financing instruments
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
CRISILs Criteria for rating short term debt

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