BLS International Services (BLS) Q4 17/18 earnings summary

Executive summary

• FY18 marked rapid expansion: 10.7mn applications processed, 36 government clients, 62 countries and 2,325 offices; the stated ambition is to touch 1bn lives by 2023.

• Growth combined a larger consular-services footprint with expansion into adjacent government-to-citizen services, including Punjab e-governance and UAE consular staffing.

• Punjab contract termination and slow collection of substantial receivables created a material uncertainty despite strong consolidated growth.

Financial highlights

• Consolidated revenue rose 24.42% YoY to ₹7,931.04mn; EBITDA increased 91.94% to ₹1,627.85mn.

• Consolidated PAT grew 92.63% to ₹965.39mn; EPS was ₹9.42 versus ₹4.89 in FY17.

• Standalone revenue increased 81.63% to ₹469.53mn; EBITDA rose 146.93% to ₹155.20mn and PAT grew 236.24% to ₹105.58mn.

• Adjusted PAT was ₹1,012mn and adjusted EPS ₹9.9; reported EBITDA margin reached 20.53%, up 720 bps YoY.

Outlook and guidance

• Management expected to sustain its past growth average and planned wider participation in global G2C projects, deeper customer engagement and timely upfront investments for new wins.

• The strategic target is to touch 1bn lives by 2023, through deeper consular reach and horizontal expansion into adjacent government services.

• UK visa-renewal processing, awarded to a Sopra Steria and BLS partnership, was scheduled to start in FY19; additional UAE centres were also planned.