Persistent Systems (PERSISTENT) Q1 26/27 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Q1 FY27 revenue was $452.4M, up 16.1% YoY and 3.8% QoQ, marking the 25th consecutive quarter of sequential growth.

• Record quarterly TCV was $1.146B, including $952.2M in new bookings and a strategic U.S. technology deal worth over $650M across 6.5 years.

• Signed a Business Combination Agreement for the Nagarro SE acquisition, which would add a business with a ~$2.9B revenue run rate and 46,000+ professionals.

• Continued investment in AI platforms and capabilities; management highlighted disciplined execution and its 3C framework for enterprise transformation.

Financial highlights

• Revenue was ₹43,032.27M, up 29.1% YoY; EBIT was ₹6,868.8M, up 32.7% YoY.

• EBIT margin was 16.0%, up 50 bps YoY and down 30 bps QoQ; PAT was ₹4,830.43M, up 13.7% YoY and down 8.7% QoQ.

• PAT’s sequential decline reflected a ₹1,052.7M FX loss; other income net of finance was ₹414.9M, including mutual-fund mark-to-market gains and prior-acquisition earnout credit reversals.

• EPS was ₹30.90; the recommended FY26 final dividend was ₹18/share, bringing the annual total to ₹40/share, subject to AGM approval.

• Gross margin was ~35% and PAT margin was 11.2%.

Outlook and guidance

• Management’s aspiration remains a 16%-17% operating margin range for the coming year; no forward-looking financial guidance was provided.

• Management expects OCF/PAT to return to its ~100% range during the year; TTM OCF/PAT was 76.2% at quarter-end.

• The large technology deal had begun contributing; management expected it to reach 75%-80% of peak revenue in Q2 and peak in the following quarter.

• Healthcare growth is expected to remain healthy for the year, led by payers, CRO/pharma, scientific instruments and medical devices; provider demand was comparatively tepid.