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HSS lines up $20 mn to finance BFSI acquisition
To fuel its acquisition strategy, Hughes
Software Services (HSS) is looking at investing up to $20 million
to buy out a software services company in the banking, financial
services and insurance (BFSI) sector.
The company had announced last year that
it was keen on acquisitions in the BFSI area. “We are willing
to invest up to $20 million in acquiring a company with a good customer
base either in the US or Europe or India,” HSS chief operating
officer Manoranjan Mohapatra said.
HSS has even put a five-member team in
place to chalk out the acquisition strategy. “We have been
evaluating companies but there is nothing that has clicked so far,”
he said.
Commenting on the severe acute respiratory
syndrome (SARS) virus, Mohapatra said, “The impact of SARS
has been on the cancellation of visits by three customers.”
HSS has also seen a dip of 10 percent in its billing rates in the
last fiscal over the previous year.
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Hughes Software Services (HSS),
which announced its fourth quarter results, took a beating
on its year-on-year net profit (down by 27 percent) with a
21 percent increase in sequential quarter-on-quarter net profit.
Its 2002-03 net profit stood
at Rs 37.9 crore, down from Rs 52.2 crore in 2001-02. HSS’
revenues for last fiscal ending March 2003 touched Rs 229.3
crore, down by 8 percent from Rs 248.1 crore in the previous
fiscal. Despite suffering a fall in net profit in the last
fiscal, the company is targeting an increase of 35-40 percent
in sales and 40-45 percent increase in net profit, as part
of its guidance for fiscal ending March 2004.
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