WNS Announces Fiscal 2019 Third Quarter Earnings, Revises Full Year Guidance

Business Wire IndiaWNS (Holdings) Limited (WNS) (NYSE: WNS), a leading provider of global Business Process Management (BPM) services, today announced results for the fiscal 2019 third quarter ended December 31, 2018.  

  Reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures discussed below to our GAAP operating results are included at the end of this release. See also “About Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”   Revenue in the third quarter was $199.7 million, representing a 5.9% increase versus Q3 of last year and a 0.3% increase from the previous quarter. Revenue less repair payments* in the third quarter was $195.9 million, an increase of 5.8% year-over-year and a 0.2% increase sequentially. Excluding exchange rate impacts, constant currency revenue less repair payments* in the fiscal third quarter grew 9.1% versus Q3 of last year and 0.1% sequentially. Year-over-year, fiscal Q3 revenue improvement was driven by healthy organic growth across key verticals, services, and geographies, which more than offset headwinds from currency movements and hedging losses. Sequentially, organic revenue growth was largely offset by seasonality in our travel business.   Operating margin in the third quarter was 16.7%, as compared to 13.6% in Q3 of last year and 14.5% in the previous quarter. On a year-over-year basis, margin improvement was the result of increased productivity, favorable currency movements net of hedging, and operating leverage on higher volumes. These benefits more than offset the impact of our annual wage increases. Sequentially, margins improved due to increased productivity and favorable currency movements net of hedging.   Third quarter adjusted operating margin* was 23.0%, versus 19.9% in Q3 of last year and 21.0% last quarter. Explanations for the adjusted operating margin* movements on a year-over-year and sequential basis are largely the same as described for GAAP operating margins above.   Profit in the fiscal third quarter was $28.6 million, as compared to $26.3 million in Q3 of last year and $24.8 million in the previous quarter. Adjusted net income (ANI)* in Q3 was $38.0 million, up $3.8 million as compared to Q3 of last year and up $4.3 million from the previous quarter. In addition to the operating margin, favorability noted previously, year-over-year profit and ANI* were further increased by higher interest income and lower debt expense. These items were partially offset by a higher effective tax rate this quarter, as Q3 of last year benefitted $5.2 million from a net provision for tax adjustments associated with the 2017 US Tax Reform bill. The amount was finalized in the third quarter of this fiscal year, and resulted in an additional favorable tax adjustment of $0.4 million. Sequentially, profit and ANI* improved as a result of operating margin favorability, higher interest income, and a lower effective tax rate resulting from the $0.4 million favorable tax adjustment associated with the 2017 US Tax Reform bill and the geographic mix of profits.   From a balance sheet perspective, WNS ended Q3 with $215.2 million in cash and investments and $75.4 million of debt. In the third quarter, the company generated $59.5 million in cash from operations, and incurred $4.7 million in capital expenditures. Third quarter days sales outstanding were 32 days, as compared to 30 days reported in Q3 of last year and 35 days in the previous quarter.   “In the fiscal third quarter, WNS continued to deliver solid financial performance across revenue, margins, profits and cash flow. Third quarter revenue less repair payments* grew 6% year-over-year, or 9% on an organic, constant currency* basis, and adjusted operating margin* expanded to 23%. Adjusted diluted earnings* per ADS increased 12% versus the fiscal third quarter of last year, and cash from operations in the third quarter was the highest in the company’s history,” said Keshav Murugesh, WNS’s Chief Executive Officer. “We will continue to invest in our business to drive differentiated positioning in a healthy BPM marketplace, and the company remains committed to “co-creating” with our clients to deliver long-term sustainable business value for all of our key stakeholders.”  

• Revenue less repair payments* is expected to be between $787 million and $799 million, up from $741.0 million in fiscal 2018. This assumes an average GBP to USD exchange rate of 1.27 for the remainder of fiscal 2019.
• ANI* is expected to range between $137 million and $141 million versus $118.4 million in fiscal 2018. This assumes an average USD to INR exchange rate of 70.00 for the remainder of fiscal 2019.
• Based on a diluted share count of 52.2 million shares, the company expects adjusted diluted earnings* per ADS to be in the range of $2.62 to $2.70 versus $2.24 in fiscal 2018.

WNS will host a conference call on January 17, 2019 at 8:00 am (Eastern) to discuss the company's quarterly results. To participate in the call, please use the following details: +1-888-656-9018; international dial-in +1-503-343-6030; participant passcode 5895908. A replay will be available for one week following the call at +1-855-859-2056; international dial-in +1-404-537-3406; passcode 5895908, as well as on the WNS website, www.wns.com, beginning two hours after the end of the call.  

WNS (Holdings) Limited (NYSE: WNS), is a leading global business process management company. WNS offers business value to 350+ global clients by combining operational excellence with deep domain expertise in key industry verticals including Travel, Insurance, Banking and Financial Services, Manufacturing, Retail and Consumer Packaged Goods, Shipping and Logistics, Healthcare and Utilities. WNS delivers an entire spectrum of business process management services such as finance and accounting, customer interaction services, technology solutions, research and analytics and industry specific back office and front office processes. As of December 31, 2018, WNS had 38,892 professionals across 57 delivery centers worldwide including China, Costa Rica, India, Philippines, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States. For more information, visit www.wns.com.  

This release contains forward-looking statements, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and assumptions about our Company and our industry. Generally, these forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of terminology such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “will,” “seek,” “should” and similar expressions. These statements include, among other things, the discussions of our strategic initiatives and the expected resulting benefits, our growth opportunities, industry environment, expectations concerning our future financial performance and growth potential, including our fiscal 2019 guidance, future profitability, and expected foreign currency exchange rates. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Such risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to worldwide economic and business conditions; political or economic instability in the jurisdictions where we have operations; our dependence on a limited number of clients in a limited number of industries; regulatory, legislative and judicial developments; increasing competition in the BPM industry; technological innovation; telecommunications or technology disruptions; our ability to attract and retain clients; our liability arising from fraud or unauthorized disclosure of sensitive or confidential client and customer data; negative public reaction in the US or the UK to offshore outsourcing; our ability to expand our business or effectively manage growth; our ability to hire and retain enough sufficiently trained employees to support our operations; the effects of our different pricing strategies or those of our competitors; our ability to successfully consummate, integrate and achieve accretive benefits from our strategic acquisitions, and to successfully grow our revenue and expand our service offerings and market share; and future regulatory actions and conditions in our operating areas. These and other factors are more fully discussed in our most recent annual report on Form 20-F and subsequent reports on Form 6-K filed with or furnished to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which are available at www.sec.gov. We caution you not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, we do not undertake to update any forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.   References to “$” and “USD” refer to the United States dollars, the legal currency of the United States; references to “GBP” refer to the British pound, the legal currency of Britain; and references to “INR” refer to Indian Rupees, the legal currency of India. References to GAAP refers to International Financial Reporting Standards, as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IFRS).

Source: Businesswire