Rating Rationale
March 08, 2018 | Mumbai
Intellect Design Arena Limited
Ratings upgraded to 'CRISIL A-/Stable/CRISIL A2+'
 
Rating Action
Total Bank Loan Facilities Rated Rs.550 Crore (Enhanced from Rs.400 Crore)
Long Term Rating CRISIL A-/Stable (Upgraded from 'CRISIL BBB+/Stable')
Short Term Rating CRISIL A2+ (Upgraded from 'CRISIL A2')
1 crore = 10 million
Refer to annexure for Details of Instruments & Bank Facilities
Detailed Rationale

CRISIL has upgraded its ratings on the bank facilities of Intellect Design Arena Limited (Intellect) to 'CRISIL A-/Stable/CRISIL A2+' from 'CRISIL BBB+/Stable/'CRISIL A2'.
 
The upgrade in ratings reflects CRISIL's belief that Intellect's business profile will improve over the medium term with healthy revenue growth and sustained improvement in profitability. CRISIL expects the strong business growth will be backed by Intellect's strong order backlog of about Rs 951 crore as of December 2017), and continuing monetisation of orders. Improvement in profitability will be aided by lower incremental increase in manpower and marketing costs vis-Ã'' -vis expected increase in revenue.
 
The rating action also reflects improvement in Intellect's financial risk profile, following equity infusion of Rs 199 crore in September 2017 through a rights issue. Cash and equivalents of over Rs 191 crore as of December 2017, along with steady annual accrual of over Rs 100 crore will be adequate to meet maturing debt obligations of Rs 31 crore per annum, product development  expenditure of Rs 120 crore per annum, and minimal working capital requirements over the medium term. The company plans to use any proceeds from the monetisation of non-core assets to reduce its debt including loans from promoters. Consequently, company's reliance on borrowings is expected to decline further improving its financial profile over the medium term.
 
The ratings continue to reflect Intellect's growing stature as an intellectual property (IP)-led software product developer within the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) domain, and healthy prospects for software product companies in this domain. These strengths are partially offset by modest, though improving, operating efficiencies, and exposure to intense competition in the products business.

Analytical Approach

CRISIL has taken a consolidated view on Intellect and its subsidiaries, considering financial fungibility among them, and presence of common management.
 
CRISIL has amortized the goodwill on acquisition of the subsidiaries, SFL Properties Pvt Ltd and Intellect USA, amounting to Rs 35.3 crore over a period of five years from fiscal 2015 (refers to financial year, April 1 to March 31).
 
CRISIL has capitalized the new product development cost while expensing the research cost from fiscal 2015 onwards, in line with the general industry practice.

Key Rating Drivers & Detailed Description
Strengths
* Growing player in software product development and delivery, with presence across verticals within BFSI: Intellect has established itself in the BFSI products business globally by developing the Intellect suite of software products since 2004, while being a part of Polaris Consulting Services Ltd (Polaris; rated 'CCR AA-/Stable'; previously Polaris Financial Technology Ltd). It has 14 products across various sub-segments of BFSI such as corporate banking, retail banking, treasury and capital markets, and insurance. It has spent over Rs 1000 crore for new product development, and owns a sizeable portfolio of IPs. Intellect's products have been well rated among the top products by industry analysts and has been instrumental in winning high value digital transformation deals against global competition. The company has also established a strong relationship with large international banks by providing critical information technology (IT) products to their business centres across the globe.
 
* Healthy demand prospects for product companies in BFSI: Within IT services and solutions, BFSI is the largest vertical, contributing to more than 50% of revenue. On average, banks and financial institutions spend about 7-8% of revenue on IT, which is the highest among all verticals. Out of BFSI's IT budget, about 20% is allocated to buying new software or upgrading existing software. However, penetration of third-party vendor software is relatively low, at about 18% with majority of the software being developed in house. However, with increasing competition, it will be critical for banks to focus more on their core business to improve efficiency and outsource IT-related spending to third-party vendors such as Intellect. BFSI will continue to remain the largest technology spender, considering the dynamic nature and high regulatory requirements in the industry. Hence, revenue prospects for software firms in BFSI is expected to remain healthy, driven by continuing high spending, increasing adoption of digital technologies, and expected increase in penetration.
 
* Adequate and improving financial risk profile: Intellect's financial risk profile is improving over time, supported by better cash generation, healthy networth of Rs 577 crore and comfortable gearing of 0.40 time as on March 31, 2017. Debt protection metrics such as net cash accrual to total debt and interest coverage ratios, which were in the recent past, impacted by subdued profitability, are gradually improving in the current fiscal.
 
During fiscal 2018, Intellect raised Rs. 199 crore of equity via a rights issue, which will further strengthen networth and gearing levels. While the company has availed of term loans to fund new product development, additional debt may be raised sporadically for temporary cash flow mismatches, in line with the business model. Overall, CRISIL believes financial risk profile will continue to improve over the medium term, backed by increase in cash flow and lower dependence on debt.
 
Weakness
* Modest but improving operating profitability: Operating profitability remains modest due to large research costs, and sales and marketing expenditure; however, it improved to 6.0% during the first nine months of fiscal 2018 due to stabilisation of these costs. Gross margin remains stable at about 49% during the period. Revenue in the products business is typically non-linear in nature; therefore, profitability is likely to improve significantly over the medium term, driven by scale-up of revenue from key products. Ability to leverage the product base and maintain strong relationships with clients, which will drive revenue growth and thereby, improve profitability, will be key rating sensitivity factors.
 
* High competitive intensity in the BFSI vertical for IT products: The entire revenue is derived from the BFSI vertical, rendering revenue growth volatile and susceptible to cyclicality in the global financial sector. Furthermore, given the healthy business prospects in BFSI, the competitive intensity is also high with presence of several global and Indian vendors. This, combined with typically high client retention and long tenure of product implementation, acts as a high entry barrier for product companies in the BFSI space. This is different from the more commoditised IT services industry, where client retention is based on billing rates, with shorter tenure contracts.
Outlook: Stable

CRISIL believes Intellect's business risk profile will improve over the medium term driven by established product suites driving revenue growth and improving non-linear operating efficiencies leading to improved profitability.
 
Upside scenario
* Significant and sustained growth in revenue with higher acceptance of products among a diversified client base
* Significant increase in operating profitability leading to higher-than-expected improvement in operating cash flows in the medium term.
 
Downside scenario
* Material decline in revenue growth leading to delayed operating profitability improvement
* Higher than expected selling and marketing expenses restricting improvement in profitability and consequently impacting cash flows
* Larger-than-expected debt funding of working capital or research expenditure adversely impacting key credit metrics

About the Company

Intellect, incorporated in 2011 develops and delivers financial technology products for the BFSI domain. Pursuant to a scheme of arrangement-cum-demerger, the product business of Polaris was transferred to Intellect. The scheme was approved by the Madras High Court in September 2014, and the company was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange on December 18, 2014. The promoters held a stake of 31.14% in Intellect as on December 31, 2017. 
 
Intellect is headquartered in Chennai and has a global presence, with offices in India (Mumbai, Gurugram, and Hyderabad), Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East Asia, and Africa. It has around 4,000 employees.

For the first nine months of fiscal 2018, Intellect reported a profit after tax of Rs 29 crore on net sales of Rs 780 crore, against a net loss of Rs 35 crore on net sales of Rs 661 crore for the corresponding period last year.

Key Financial Indicators
Particulars Unit 2017 2016
Revenue Rs crore 913 811
Profit After Tax (PAT) Rs crore -22 -17
PAT Margins % -2.4 -2.0
Adjusted debt/Adjusted net worth Times 0.61 0.04
Interest coverage Times 1.36 -2.06

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 crore)
Rating assigned with outlook
NA Cash credit* NA NA NA 125.0 CRISIL A-/Stable
NA Foreign currency term loan NA NA Jan-2022 128.0 CRISIL A-/Stable
NA Bank guarantee NA NA NA 147.0 CRISIL A2+
NA Proposed fund-based bank limits NA NA NA 50.0 CRISIL A-/Stable
NA Proposed non fund based bank limits NA NA NA 100.0 CRISIL A2+
* Rs.45 crore interchangeable with non-fund based limits
Annexure - Rating History for last 3 Years
  Current 2018 (History) 2017  2016  2015  Start of 2015
Instrument Type Quantum Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Rating
Short Term Non Convertible Debenture  ST    --    --    --  25-02-16  Withdrawal  29-01-15  CRISIL A2  -- 
Fund-based Bank Facilities  LT/ST  303  CRISIL A-/Stable    No Rating Change    No Rating Change  22-11-16  CRISIL BBB+/Stable/ CRISIL A2    --  -- 
Non Fund-based Bank Facilities  LT/ST  247  CRISIL A2+    No Rating Change  12-10-17  CRISIL A2    --    --  -- 
Table reflects instances where rating is changed or freshly assigned. 'No Rating Change' implies that there was no rating change under the release.
Annexure - Details of various bank facilities
Current facilities Previous facilities
Facility Amount (Rs.Crore) Rating Facility Amount (Rs.Crore) Rating
Bank Guarantee 147 CRISIL A2+ Bank Guarantee 159.5 CRISIL A2
Cash Credit* 125 CRISIL A-/Stable Cash Credit 77 CRISIL BBB+/Stable
Foreign Currency Term Loan 128 CRISIL A-/Stable Foreign Currency Term Loan 128.3 CRISIL BBB+/Stable
Proposed Fund-Based Bank Limits 50 CRISIL A-/Stable Packing Credit in Foreign Currency 25 CRISIL A2
Proposed Non Fund based limits 100 CRISIL A2+ Proposed Long Term Bank Loan Facility 10.2 CRISIL BBB+/Stable
Total 550 -- Total 400 --
* Rs.45 crore interchangeable with non-fund based limits
Links to related criteria
CRISILs Approach to Financial Ratios
Rating criteria for manufaturing and service sector companies
Rating Criteria for Software Industry
CRISILs Criteria for rating short term debt

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