Eyeing 3-4 large deals going ahead: Rolta India

K K Singh, CMD of Rolta India told CNBC-TV18 there is no forex loss for the company in the current quarter. Instead they had a forex gain of Rs 4 to Rs 5 crore in the quarter ended September, he said. Singh further added that Rolta has an orderbook of Rs 2300 to Rs 2400 crore and they are now looking at three to four large deals.

Rolta India's EBITDA margins in the present quarter were 45% at Rs 213 crore. The CMD believes its interest cost will remain stable at current levels with a total debt of Rs 1900 crore.
Software services provider Rolta India's consolidated net profit grew by 31.25% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 63 crore in the July-September quarter of FY13. Consolidated net sales increased 5.6% to Rs 470 crore from Rs 445 crore during the same period. Here is the edited transcript of the interview on CNBC-TV18. Q: At the profit level you have definitely done better than Q1, the profit now is as good as it was in the year ago quarter which was Rs 62 crore, what went right this time?
A: We are bouncing back and the big problems about foreign exchange were issues in the last quarter and the quarter before. This quarter we did not have to provide for any foreign exchange losses. That was one of the big reasons why we have been able to come back to profitability levels and certainly our solution appraoch is also giving us more bottom line and it is getting improved as you go forward.
I believe we will be able to improve that and maintain our profitability going forward, subject to foreign exchange concerns which experts say is not going to be very negative. We are hopeful about the rest of the year as well. Q: At end of Q4 you had an order book of Rs 2150 crore, what is the position now?
A: It has grown by a few hundred crores. We have about Rs 2300-2400 crore worth of order book. What is good is that we are also going forward and looking at 3-4 large deals in the utility space, in defence and in 3D mapping.
We are looking at about Rs 1000 crore worth of deals which are at very advance stages of finalisation. If they should come in the next quarter or the current quarter, that will have a very positive impact on our order book position. The pipeline is very strong and we expect the market to give us the benefit of that. Q: We haven't had a chance to calculate your margins; could you tell us what the EBITDA margin was and what is the outlook for it?
A: The EBITDA margins certainly are about 45 percent or so this quarter, which is Rs 213 crore. Compared to last year our EBITDA have gone up by 19.2 percent. The EBITDA margins to some extent will fluctuate quarter to quarter because it depends on the kind of IP which we have provided in our solutions.
Sometimes our solutions are richer without our intellectual property (IP) and the EBITDA margins are higher. But, sometime it may not be so. We believe that our EBITDA margins are improving and this year also it should improve to about 18-20 percent.
_PAGEBREAK_ Q: Any foreign exchange impacts at all this quarter or nothing?
A: It was on the positive side, about 4-5 crore worth of positive impact of foreign exchange has been there. To that extent, it has added but it is about 4-5 crore because it certainly fits in our other expenses and depreciation cost. The big thing is there was no negative impact. Q: Is there any increase in your interest cost because of the refinancing of FCCBs?
A: Interest cost for the last quarter and this quarter is almost same and this will now continue to be on the same levels. I am not expecting that to go substantially higher because in the last quarter we had provided for the higher interest cost for ECB which was raised for FCCB redemption.
I think that will continue and our cost for that interest is almost fixed now at about Rs 45-46 crore. But, as we go forward and if the rate cuts happen, probably the cost will come down. We are looking forward to the government action. Q: What is your total debt now?
A: It is in the range of about Rs 1,900 crore or so which includes foreign currency and rupee. Q: You maintain your guidance of about 10-15 percent growth in this fiscal?
A: Yes. We certainly believe that we will be able to grow 10-12 percent in this year and we might be able to improve it a little bit. Q: Would that be your guidance for FY14 from whatever visibility you have, 10 to 12 percent in revenues?
A: I think for FY14 it should be even better. In the current year I am looking at 10-12 percent or so. It can get better but the year 2014 should be even better.