Satyam Computer Services Ltd. (NYSE:SAY), a leading business and information technology services provider, announced that it has posted USD 637.3 million in revenues in the first quarter of FY’09 and is currently gearing up to achieve a 24 to 26 per cent rise for the entire year. In line with this, company officials have attributed the positive results to their stronger presence in the rapidly growing UAE market, which has resulted in the UAE registering a 41 per cent growth rate in the first quarter of FY’09 compared to the same period last year. Satyam expects the increasing demand from governments, aviation and banking sectors to drive its growth in FY’09. Global revenue for fiscal year 2009 is expected to be between USD 2.65 billion and USD 2.69 billion, with company officials projecting revenues for Q2 FY’09 to be in the range of USD 645.6 million to 651.9 million.
The first quarter of FY’09 has ushered in 16 additional high profile customers in the Middle East operating in various fields including aviation, banking and financial, construction, and telecommunications, in addition to regional governmental bodies. Moreover, the company has announced that its Middle East operations have witnessed a significant growth marking a 102 per cent increase in this quarter, with APAC - Middle East and Africa region contributing 19.03 per cent to Satyam’s global revenues. Among the top contributors to the success of its Middle East operations was the UAE where Satyam witnessed an astonishing 41 per cent growth in comparison to the same period last year. Satyam’s major clients in the UAE are Dubai Healthcare City, Emirates bank, Dubai Holding, DCCI, Dubai eGovernment, Dubai Civil Aviation, Dubai Municipality, Government of Ajman, Etihad Airways, Dubai Duty Free, Sorouh, and Emaar Properties.
“Satyam forged ahead during the first quarter, despite difficult economic environments in key markets. Our focus on transformation initiatives is finding greater acceptance from customers enhancing our ability to garner a higher share of their spend. Against the backdrop of a better margin performance and prevailing forex rates, we are revising our guidance for FY’09, and we remain positive and confident about our ability to deliver the stated guidance, notwithstanding the operational environment,” said B. Ramalinga Raju, Founder and Chairman - Satyam.
A review of the first quarter has revealed that Satyam has achieved USD 637.3 million in revenues, marking a 40.9 per cent year-on-year increase and a sequential increase of 3.9 per cent. In addition, the company's net income in Q1 FY'09 has witnessed a 36 per cent year-on-year growth to reach USD 126.6 million, representing a 12.7 per cent increase over the previous quarter. The quarter has also ushered in 34 additional customers, taking the total global customer count to 631 with 185 customers from the Fortune Global and US 500 list. Moreover, the company also inducted a total of 651 associates, including 161 trainees to the organization, taking the number of employees across all subsidiaries and joint ventures to 51,643 across 61 countries.
“The past quarter has also witnessed increased business activity in Asia Pacific and Middle East. Further, companies in Europe that were slow to embrace offshoring are showing increasing interest to capitalize on our global delivery model. These regions continue to promise significant growth going forward and we remain committed towards delivering high impact and significant benefits to our customers,” concluded Raju.
Satyam maintains a strong presence in the MENA region, with over 200 full lifecycle implementations and a team of over 750 associates, offering highly matured processes across business consulting, ERP deployment, software development and support to the retail, manufacturing and distribution, telecom, oil and gas, banking and finance, government and airlines sectors. The company has geared up to take a ‘globalize while localizing’ approach in its operations with aims to consolidate its position in the region through a distributed workforce strategy.
