Sonata Software (SONATSOFTW) Q4 97/98 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Sales and PAT grew 61% and 48% YoY, respectively, following focused growth initiatives; export revenue rose 221%.

• Operations expanded across exports, ERP, IT consulting, data warehousing and Internet services, supported by new alliances and delivery capacity.

Financial highlights

• Sales and other income reached Rs856.09m, up from Rs531.99m in FY97; sales and services were Rs846.53m.

• Operating profit was Rs96.05m versus Rs61.21m; PBT was Rs55.86m versus Rs37.65m, and PAT was Rs55.84m versus Rs37.64m.

• Export revenue was Rs355.71m, up 221% YoY; exports accounted for 42% of revenue.

Outlook and guidance

• A second 30,000 sq. ft. development centre, with capacity for 300 professionals, was planned for September 1998; a scalable longer-term facility was also under consideration.

• Plans included opening offices in Singapore and Germany during FY99 and pursuing growth in exports, Internet, e-commerce, data warehousing and distributed computing.

• Directors cited a strong base for accelerated growth in the coming years; growth was expected to draw on expanding export operations and technology capabilities.