ATTENTION !! Dear Readers, BHAVIKK SHAH's BLOG is totally free website. Contents here should be viewed for Knowledge purpose only. Author does not charge for any kinds of the services. Kindly don't entertain to any of the paid services in a name of BHAVIKK SHAH's BLOG !!

Saturday, February 13, 2016

CERA SANITARYWARE LIMITED: WITH GROWTH WITH STYLE !!!


Scrip Code: 532443 CERA

CMP:  Rs. 1,639.25 ; Market Cap: Rs. 2,131.98 Cr; 52 Week High/Low: Rs. 2,960.90 / Rs. 1509.95
Total Shares: 1,30,05,874 shares; Promoters : 71,20,639 shares –54.75 %; Total Public holding : 58,85,235 shares – 45.25 %; Book Value: Rs. 195.66; Face Value: Rs. 5.00; EPS: Rs. 41.85; Dividend: 125.00 % ; P/E: 40.56 times; Ind. P/E: 34.31; EV/EBITDA: 15.74.
Total Debt: Rs. 68.16 Cr; Enterprise Value: Rs. 2,170.61 Cr.

CERA SANITARYWARE LIMITED: Cera Sanitaryware Limited was incorporated in 1980, and is headquartered in Kadi, India. The company was formerly known as Madhusudan Oils and Fats Limited and changed its name to Cera Sanitaryware Limited in November 2002. Cera Sanitaryware Limited manufactures and sells sanitary ware and faucet ware products in India. The company offers sanitary ware products, including EWC’s, kids range products, wash basins, urinals, cisterns, seat covers, sensors, and bath accessories; special needs products consisting of cranes, shower chairs, wall mounted and U shaped rails, wall mounted inverted rails, and corner and wall mounted grab bars; and faucets, such as fittings, basin mixers, showers, bath tub spouts, flush valves and cocks, angle cocks, taps, and accessories. The company announced its bonus shares last July 2010 in ratio of 1:1. It also provides wellness products comprising steam shower rooms, shower rooms and cubicles, shower partitions, indoor swimming pools, bath tubs, shower panels, and pressure pumps; kitchen sinks and mirrors; and personal care products comprising hand dryers, perfume sprayers with remote control, automatic soap dispensers, and hair dryers, as well as wall and floor tiles. Cera has emerged as the third largest player in the sanitary ware industry in India. The company enjoys 24 % market share in the organised segment. It has installed manufacturing capacity of 2.7 mn pieces p.a. in sanitary ware and 2,500 pieces per day in faucet ware in Kadi (Gujarat). As of May 2013, Cera has 1,000 distributors - dealers, 10,000 retailers and 12 major stock points across India. CERA’s subsidiary includes Madhusudan Industries Ltd; Madhusudan Holdings Ltd; Madhusudan Fiscal Ltd; Vikram Investment Co. Ltd; Cera Foundation; Swadeshi Fan Ind. Ltd. The CERA SANITARYWARE LIMITED is locally compared with Kajaria Ceramics, Grindwell Norton, Acrysil India Ltd, La Opala RG,  Asian granite India Ltd, Euro Ceramics, Hindustan Sanitaryware India Ltd, Morganite Crucible India Ltd, Murudeshwar Ceramics, Nitco tiles Ltd, Orient Bell Ltd, Regency Ceramics, Restile Ceramics, Somany Ceramics, Kisan mouldings Ltd, and Globally compared with China Ceramics Co Ltd of China, Ziyang Ceramics of China, Topps Tiles of China, China GengSheng Minerals Inc of China, INTL DE Ceramica Com of USA, EGE Seramik of Turkey, Dynasty Ceramics of Thailand, Ceramica San Lorenzo, CARBO Ceramics Inc of USA, Fairmount Santrol Holdings Inc. of USA, Compagnie De Saint Gobain SA of France, U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc of USA, Arab Ceramics Co of Saudi Arabia, Al Anwar Ceramic Tiles Co of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Ceramics Co of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Vitrified Clay Pipes Company of Saudi Arabia, General Comapany for Ceramic and Procelain Products SAE, Forage Orbit Garant Inc of Canada,Ceramika Nowa Gala Sa of Turkey, Usak Seramik Sanayi As of Turkey, Dvarcioniu Keramika AB of Lithuania, Goh Ban Huat Berhad of Malaysia, Chang Yih Ceramic JSC of Vietnam, Royal Ceramics Lanka Ltd of Sri Lanka, Konoshima Chemical Co Ltd of Japan, Roy Ceramics Se of Germany, Troax Corp Publ AB of Sweden, Expedit AS of Denmark, Exel Composites Oyi of Finland, Royal Ceramic Industry Public Co Ltd of Thailand, CMC Joint Stock Co of Vietnam, Shabir Tiles & Ceramics ltd of Pakistan, Onex Corporaion of Japan, Sapura Industrial Berhad of Malaysia, Nansin Company Ltd of Japan, Masonite International Corp of USA, Owens Corning of USA, Nci Building Systems Inc of New York, Masco Corp of USA.

Investment Rationale:
Cera Sanitaryware incorporated in the year 1998 is a pioneer in the sanitary ware segment in India. Cera Sanitaryware Limited, India’s fastest growing company in the sanitary ware segment in India. It has an extensive product portfolio that includes high end showers, steam cubicles, and whirlpools, besides sanitary-ware and faucets, such extensive product ranges has made CERA the primary choice of customers looking for stylish products in a contemporary lifestyle. It’s also the first sanitary ware company to use natural gas, for its commercial needs, Cera has been on the forefront of launching a new and versatile colour range and introducing the bath suite concept. CERA’s constant innovations have given several path breaking contributions to the industry. Some of its innovations have become benchmarks for the industry- like water-saving twin-flush coupled WCs, 4-litre flush WCs, and one-piece WCs. Advanced technology has been the forte of CERA. Its state-of-the-art manufacturing plant has been following the highest standards of quality with an emphasis on sustainability since its inception in 1980. CERA has raised its production capacity of sanitary-ware from 2.70 million pieces to 3.0 million pieces per annum, CERA plans to maintain its leadership status in the industry, while catering to increasing demands with satisfaction. Foraying into a new arena, CERA also launched an array of stylish wall and floor tiles. The range includes HD digital wall tiles with matching floor tiles; digital glazed vitrified tiles, and vitrified tiles with nano technology. India ranks third in world ceramic tile production after China and Brazil and is growing at an annual growth rate of 15 % contributed largely by urbanisation, and boom in the retail industry. Ceramic production today is a sizeable contribution to the India’s GDP with a turnover of Rs. 18,000 crores at 60 Cr sq mts p.a. Tiles. The industry was earlier highly dominated by the unorganized players based out in Gujarat. But with stringent pollution control norms by the Gujarat Pollution Control Board the industry in getting more organized. The unorganized players have started to enter into JV with the organized players assisting them in manufacturing activities. Also India is currently witnessing a change in preference towards high end polished vitrified tiles which is leading to higher demand growth for the organized players. India has not grown much in terms of exports of ceramic tiles and currently consists of less than 0.5 % of the global market. India exports ceramics to markets across Europe, Asia, US and Africa and the key export markets are UAE, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. The Indian tile Industry is expected to witness better days over the medium-term. This optimism is based on important realities like increasing urbanisation, reduction in Interest rate and policy driven growth. Over the last two decades, India’s urban population have increased from 21.7 Cr to 37.7 Cr and this is expected to reach 60 Cr or 40 % of the population by 2031. By then, India is expected to have 68 cities with population of more than 10 Lakh and this would drive housing demand. Also with the recent reduction in interest rates will also help demand in housing sector. The Government’s decision to develop, Housing for all by 2022, Swachh Bharat campaign, Smart City Mission is expected to create an interesting growth opportunity for the Indian ceramic tile industry. The company is also making huge investment in promoting its single brand ‘CERA’, which the company uses for all its products. The promotional expenses have grown at a CAGR of 36 % since FY11 and it constitutes 4 % of the total revenue. To give brand visibility, the company has appointed Sonam Kapoor, Bollywood fashion icon, acclaimed actress, as the company’s brand ambassador. Going forward, the company is expected to come out with a new brand for the premium segment and would use CERA brand for the mass and mid segments. Brand loyalty and strategic marketing network have paid dividend to the company in terms of robust revenue growth of 36 % CAGR in the last four years. The company has strong pan India presence with 1400 dealers and 14000 retailers targeting both its retail and institutional customers. And to supplement its network the company also has 20 stock points across the country. The company has also initiated touch and feels experience to its customers by setting up bath studios. In order to target premium and luxury customers, the company has exclusive display centre, Cera style studio which are located in the prime locations across the major cities. Cera style galleries are the display and sales touch points owned and managed by its trading partners. Cera style centres are the display centres targeting smaller trade retail partners. The company has increased its Cera style studios from just one at Ahmedabad in FY06 to 10 by the end of FY15. The company is also fast growing its Cera style galleries and expects to touch 200 galleries in the near future. With Cera style centers, the company is penetrating into the tier 2 cities such as North-East and West Bengal. In South, the company has dominant position in Kerala and is now building up its positioning in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Over FY11-15, Cera has gained market share and maintained above industry growth rate in the sanitary ware segment- segmental sales have recorded a CAGR of 27 %, vis-à-vis 14 % to 15 % growth reported by the industry. Currently, replacement demand forms 7 % to 8 % of total sanitary ware demand in India vis-à-vis 80 % in developed nations. Considering the rapid growth seen by the industry over last couple of decades, it is expected that the replacement demand to be a key growth enabler going forward. Along with the higher brand consciousness and income levels will have help organised players like Cera in the sanitary ware segment to gain steady market share from unorganised players which we can witness by the growth in market share of organised sector from 50 % to 65 %. Although it is expected that the branded segment to continue to record faster growth than the industry, penetration levels are likely to stabilise, owing to limited headroom. Even as growth moderates from historic levels, Cera is likely to sustain its growth trajectory, and can record 20 % CAGR over FY15-18, against an industry growth expectation of 13-14%. This is expected to be driven by factors like established market position and introduction of new products.  

Outlook and Valuation:  
Cera Sanitaryware is a complete building solution provider and have raised itself from a provider of single sanitaryware product in the 1980’s to now vast range of product portfolio and today it has become a complete building product solutions provider by offering products like sanitaryware, faucetware, wellness & allied products and tiles. In the sanitaryware segment, the company has strong positioning in the mass segment which accounts of almost 60 % of the organized sanitaryware market. The company has in-house manufacturing facility for sanitaryware and faucetware at Kadi, Gujarat. Currently, the facility has an installed capacity to produce 3 million pcs of sanitaryware and 2.34 million pcs of faucetware. The company is also engaged in contract manufacturing for sanitaryware and faucetware and outsourcing activities for wellness & allied products, Vitrified and Ceramic Tiles. Over the years, the company has built-up strong marketing network to promote and sell its products. As on March 2015, it has 1400 dealers and 14000 retailers. All the products of the company are sold under single brand ‘CERA’, and it enjoys strong positioning in the mass segment. It has strong positioning in the southern market, with 40 % of its total revenue coming from south. Over the years, it has gradually increased its market share in the sanitaryware from 18 % in FY09 to 23 % in FY15. The company is also growing higher than most of its peers and industry. The company started the faucet business by trading activity and today it has built-up huge capacity to encash the opportunity in the under-penetrated faucetware market. India’s sanitaryware and bathroom fittings industry is undergoing a transition phase. The consumers are now moving from low-end basic product to middle and high end premium segments. This is in conjunction with the growing urbanization and ever increasing middle-income segment. As per the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER), the middle-income segment has grown from 1.1 Cr households in 2001-02 to 3.1 Cr household by 2010-2011 and is expected to grow to 5.3 Cr by 2015-16 and 11.4 Cr by 2025-2026. This shift will benefit the industry players in terms of higher margin and ability to pass on the cost increase to the consumers. The total size of the Indian sanitaryware and bathroom fittings industry is at Rs. 9,500 Cr in FY15, of which the sanitaryware accounts for roughly Rs. 3,500 Cr and is growing at an average rate of 20 %. The remaining Rs. 6,000 Cr is attributed to bathroom fittings, also growing at an average rate of 18 %. The outlook for the industry is robust on the back of country’s very low sanitation coverage, housing shortage and potential for the replacement market. The contribution from the replacement in this sector in India is very low at 8 % in comparison to 80 % in the developed economies. In the sanitaryware industry, the organized market is 65 % while the unorganized market is about 35 % and in the bathroom fittings, the organized market share is around 45 % and the unorganized market is about 55 %. According to the report on world health statistic by World Health Organization (WHO), the sanitation coverage in India is very low at 36 %. This in itself shows the growth potential for the industry in a country which has a population of over 125 Cr and is expected to grow to 135 Cr by 2021, as per census 2011. Further, the growth would be boosted by the government initiatives such as affordable housing, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and development of 100 smart cities. In Union Budget for 2015-16, the finance minister has announced 100 % sanitation by October 2019 with a provisional amount of Rs. 3,625 Cr, including Rs. 1,000 Cr for urban sanitation. It has also allocated Rs. 10,025 Cr for rural housing and Rs. 4,150 Cr for Urban housing with an objective of providing housing for all by 2022. In the recent union cabinet meeting, the government has approved development of 100 smart cities along with the new urban renewal mission with a planned outlay of Rs. 1 Trillion. CERA has for the additional capacity, for both faucetware and sanitaryware, alloted the total capex is approx Rs. 100 Cr, which would be funded from the amount raised through preferential issue and remaining from internal accruals. Recently, the company has raised Rs. 70.6o Cr by way of preferential allotment of 3,51,000 equity share at Rs. 2011.5 per shares. On November 23, 2015 Anjani Tiles Limited, Andhra Pradesh has allotted 51,00,000 Equity shares at par out of the total 1,00,00,000 Equity Shares of the Company to Cera Sanitaryware Limited and now Anjani Tiles Limited has become a Subsidiary Company of Cera Sanitaryware limited. The company has been using full utilization of its existing capacity and post expansion; the company will continue to make full utilization of its increased capacity also. It is expected that margins to consolidate in the range of 14 % in the next two years, while the company is positioning itself in the premium segment and expanding its capacity and achieving full utilization of the expanded capacity. The revenue contribution from the faucet business has increased from 14 % in FY13 to 17 % in FY17E, with the increasing capacity the contribution is expected to increase further. Recently, the company has also expanded its business activities in the tiles business through contract manufacturing with the unorganized players. The products launched by the company in the tiles business have been widely accepted and as a result, the contribution from the tiles business has also increased from just 2 % in FY13 to 13 % in FY15. The diverse product offering has helped the company to achieve higher revenue growth, even when the economy and the industry were under pressure. Lately, the company is also evaluating opportunities for entering into a joint venture for the manufacturing of sanitaryware and/or Tiles. Faucetware industry size at Rs. 6,000 Cr and is double the size of sanitaryware. The contribution of the organized market is 45 % and is growing rapidly. The company already supplies to the industry in the mass segment through outsourcing but now the company is targeting the premium segment and in this direction, the company has increased its production capacity by 166 % to 2.43 mn pcs p.a i.e approx. 6,658 pcs. per day from 0.91 mn pcs p.a i.e 2,500 pcs per day. The plant located at kadi, Gujarat is further expandable to 10,000 pcs per day. Currently, jaguar has dominating in this segment with almost 40 % market share. The company is going aggressively on branding and expects to garner 3 % market share in the near future. Meanwhile, it has also expanded the sanitaryware production capacity from 2.7 mn pcs p.a to 3 mn pcs p.a in FY15. The company is also planning to increase the sanitaryware capacity to 3.3 mn pcs by FY16E. In the last couple of years, the company has reported healthy growth in its sanitaryware business and has gained market share from 18 % in FY09 to 23 % at the end of FY15. The company has recently entered into a marketing agreement with ECE Banyo, the owners of Italian Luxury Sanitaryware brand ISVEA. As per the agreement, Cera will exclusively sale, distribute and market ISVEA brand in India. Already the company imports some premium sanitaryware products from China and Turkey. The company operates with two sources of energy, natural gas for running the kilns and electricity for running the machineries. The company has long term gas supply agreement with GAIL, which meets 70 % of the company’s requirement and the balance is supplied by Sabarmati Gas Ltd at market price. Because of the long term contract, the company is barred from the short term price fluctuation and thus brings cost efficiency. Besides, natural gas is also less costly than regassified LNG/LPG gas, which is used by its peers like HSIL and Parryware. Recent decline in the natural gas prices in the international market is giving added advantage to the company. During FY15, the company has added wind turbine of 4 MW taking the wind turbine capacity to 11.825 MW. During the year, the company also installed 1MW of solar energy. With this, the company has captive power capacity of 12.825 MW. The captive power plant meets almost 90 % of the company’s electricity requirement. In FY15, the power generation increased by 65 % to 10361993 KWH as compared to FY14. This will further help the company to stabilize the power cost Full capacity utilization and robust sales growth have helped the company to report higher return ratios. In FY15, the company has added huge capacity and in the next two years, the company is expected to incur more capex to enhance its capacity. Thus the return ratios are expected to remain stable in the near future and will gradually improve as the company achieves optimal utilization. The RoNW (%) is expected to improve to 24.7 % by FY17E from 23.5 % in FY15, the RoCE (%) is expected to improve to 32.4 % by FY17E from 31.4 % in FY15 and the Return on Asset (RoA) is expected to improve from 12.3 % in FY15 to 13.8 % in FY17E. The domestic faucet ware industry offers a large, scalable growth opportunity. The faucet industry offers a larger and more scalable growth opportunity than sanitary ware, as spends on faucets are typically 2-3x that of sanitary ware. Estimated size of the faucets industry is Rs. 50-52 bn, as compared with Rs. 28- 30 bn of the sanitary ware industry. The small players has market share of 3 % as of FY15 and Cera is aptly positioned to capitalise this opportunity. Moreover, presence of branded players is expected to grow faster than that of other segments, owing to higher share of unorganised players of 55 %, vis-à-vis 35 % in sanitary ware and 50 % in ceramic tiles. On Financial side, CERA’s net profit jumps to Rs. 20.10 Cr as against Rs. 16.16 Cr in the corresponding quarter ending of previous year, an increase of 24.43 %. Revenue for the quarter rose by 11.58 % to Rs. 233.53 Cr from Rs. 209.29 Cr, when compared with the prior year period. Reported earnings per share of the company stood at Rs. 15.46 a share during the quarter, registering 21.06 % increase over previous year period. Profit before interest, depreciation and tax is Rs. 37.37 Cr as against Rs. 31.15 Cr in the corresponding period of the previous year. At the current market price of Rs. 1639.25, the stock is trading at a PE of 27.97 x FY16E and 19.75 x FY17E respectively. The company can post Earnings per share (EPS) of Rs. 58.60 in FY16E and Rs. 83.00 in FY17E. CERA is confident of sustaining its growth in coming years with its business strategies of continuously upgrading product basket, leveraging on strong brand image, optimizing product potential capacity utilization and distribution network with all backed up by well-structured sales & marketing plans.   

KEY FINANCIALSFY15FY16EFY17EFY18E
SALES ( Crs)821.66919.321,234.501,537.60
NET PROFIT (₹ Cr)67.66 76.22107.90140.00
EPS ()52.0358.6083.00108.00
PE (x)32.5828.9221.0016.20
P/BV (x)6.275.154.403.60 
EV/EBITDA (x)17.6215.4012.209.50
ROE (%)19.2417.8123.3024.70
ROCE (%)33.9633.4231.4035.20

As I always say, I am a long term believer in markets & I do respect the markets and will keep a strict stop loss of 8 % on every purchase(Why Strict stop loss of 8 % ?) -  Click Here

*As the author of this blog I disclose that I do hold  CERA SANITARYWARE Ltd in my investment portfolio.


*Reader Friends, grab a fresh hot cup of coffee, turn on your net & browse on to www.bhavikkshah.blogspot.in & take out few minutes to get to know the most interesting world of investment... Till then HAPPY INVESTING, don't forget to Share !!

*Dear Reader friend, if you enjoyed this article, please do share it with your Friends and Colleagues through Facebook and Twitter, and drop in your valuable thoughts in comment box..

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer
This is a personal blog and presents entirely personal views on stock market. Any statement made in this blog is merely an expression of my personal opinion. These informations are sourced from publicly available data. By using/reading this blog you agree to (i) not to take any investment decision or any other important decisions based on any information, opinion, suggestion, expressions or experience mentioned or presented in this blog (ii) Any investment decisions taken if any would be his/hers sole responsibility. (iii) the author of this blog is not responsible.  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

READ HERE TO KNOW MORE ON LONG TERM INVESTING - CLICK HERE

VIEW THE POWER POINT PRESENTATION ON

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

INFOSYS LTD: GETTING IT's MOJO BACK !!!

Scrip Code: 500209 INFYNYSE:INFY  
CMP:  Rs. 1175.55; Market Cap: Rs. 2,70,017.32 Cr; 52 Week High/Low: Rs. 1,219.80 / Rs. 932.65
Total Shares: 229,69,44,664 shares; Promoters : 30,04,31,272 shares – 13.08 %; Total Public holding : 199,65,13,392 shares – 86.92 %; Book Value: Rs. 220.89; Face Value: Rs. 5.00; EPS: Rs. 55.62; Dividend: 1190.00 %; P/E: 21.13 times; Ind. P/E: 20.84; EV/EBITDA: 13.25x; Total Debt: NIL; Enterprise Value: Rs. 239,650.32 Cr.

INFOSYS LIMITED: The Company was founded on July 2, 1981 and is headquartered in Bengaluru, India. It was first incorporated as Infosys Consultants Pvt ltd and changed its name to Infosys Technologies Ltd on June 2, 1992 and in June 16, 2011 the company changed its name to Infosys ltd. It is a global leader company in the "next Generation" of IT and consulting Services & is recognized for its world-class management practices and work ethics. Infosys Limited, formerly known as Infosys Technologies Limited is a global technology Services Company headquartered in Bangalore, India. It is the second largest IT exporter in India. Infosys Limited is engaged in consulting, technology, outsourcing and next-generation services. The Company's solutions include application development and maintenance, independent validation services, infrastructure management, engineering services comprising product engineering and life cycle solutions and business process management; Management Consulting, enterprise solutions and package implementation, systems integration and business intelligence; Products, business platforms and solutions, and technologies, such as cloud computing, enterprise mobility, digital, big data and analytics. Its segments are Financial Services and Insurance, Manufacturing, Energy and utilities, Communication and Services, Retail, Consumer packaged goods and Logistics, Life Sciences and Healthcare, and Growth Markets. The company came with an IPO in 1993 with 19,76,100 equity shares of Rs. 10 each priced at Rs. 95 per share and got listed at Rs. 145 per share. The company has very vast and fantastic bonus history, Infosys gave its first bonus on June 30 1994 in ratio of 1:1 and then on in 1997 in ratio of 1:1, 1999 in ratio of 1:1, in 2004 in ratio 3:1, in 2006 in ratio of 1:1, in 2014 in ratio 1:1, and lastly on April 24, 2015 in ratio of 1:1. Infosys has last split the face value of its shares from Rs. 10 to Rs. 5 in 1999. Infosys is the first Indian company to get a US Listing and emerged as one of the most precious companies listed on Nasdaq in terms of market capitalisation in software consulting and services category. It listed its ADR on March 11, 1999 on Nasdaq with the offer of 20,70,000 American Depository Shares which was equivalent to 10,35,000 equity shares of face value of Rs. 10 each at that time at US$34 per ADS. It raised US$7.038 Cr in 1999 through ADS. In December 2002 Infosys transferred the listing of its ADS from NASDAQ to the NYSE. Today, Infosys is a global leader in consulting, technology, and outsourcing solutions. As a proven partner focused on building tomorrow's enterprise, Infosys enables clients in more than 50 countries to outperform the competition and stay ahead of the innovation curve. With US$ 9.2 billion in annual revenues and 193,000+ employees, it provides enterprises with strategic insights on what lies ahead. It help enterprises transform and thrive in a changing world through strategic consulting, operational leadership, and the co-creation of breakthrough solutions, including those in mobility, sustainability, big data, and cloud computing. Finacle is a core banking product developed by Infosys, which is a universal banking solution with various modules for retail and corporate banking. INFOSYS Ltd is locally compared to HCL Technologies, Wipro Ltd, TCS, Hexaware technologies Ltd, and globally with Microsoft Corporation of USA, International Business Machines Corporations of USA, Oracle Corporation of USA, Cap Gemini of Europe, Cognizant Technologies Lt of India, Hewlett-Packard (HP) of USA, Accenture Plc of Ireland, Oracle Corporation of USA, SAP SE of Germany, Fujitsu Ltd of Japan.

Investment Rationale:
Incorporated in 1992, Infosys is the second largest IT company in India, employing over 1,93,000 professionals. The company services more than 1045 clients across various verticals, such as financial services, manufacturing, telecom, retail and healthcare. Infosys has the widest portfolio of service offerings amongst Indian IT Companies, spanning across the entire IT service value chain - from traditional Application Development and Maintenance to Consulting and Package Implementation to Products and Platforms. Infosys is the pioneer in the Global Delivery Model (GDM), which emerged as a disruptive force in the industry leading to the rise of offshore outsourcing. The GDM is based on the principle of taking work to the location where the best talent is available, where it makes the best economic sense, with the least amount of acceptable risk. The Company also offers span business & technology consulting, services, systems, product engineering, custom software development, maintenance, re-engineering, independent testing & validation services, IT infrastructure services & BPO. India is the world's largest sourcing destination for the Information Technology (IT) industry, accounting for approximately 67 % of the US$ 124-130 billion market. The industry employs about 1 Cr work-forces. More importantly, the industry has led the economic transformation of the country and altered the perception of India in the global economy. India enjoys cost competitiveness in providing IT services, which is approximately 3 to 4 times cheaper than the US, and this continues to be the mainstay of its Unique Selling Proposition (USP) in the global Sourcing market. India is also gaining prominence in terms of intellectual capital with several global IT firms setting up their innovation centres in India. The IT-BPM sector in India grew at a Compound Annual Growth rate (CAGR) of 15 % over 2010-15, which is 3-4 times higher than the global IT-BPM spend, and is estimated to expand at a CAGR of 9.5 % to US$ 300 billion by 2020. India is the fourth largest base for new businesses in the world and home to over 3,100 tech start-ups, and is all set to increase its base to 11,500 tech start-ups by 2020. India is the topmost offshoring destination for IT companies across the world. Having proven its capabilities in delivering both on-shore and off-shore services to global clients, emerging technologies now offer an entire new gamut of opportunities for top IT firms in India. Social, mobility, analytics and cloud (SMAC) are collectively expected to offer a US$ 1 trillion opportunity and Cloud represents the largest opportunity under SMAC, increasing at a CAGR of approximately 30 % to around US$ 650-700 billion by 2020. With thrust on automation to combat aggressive pricing in the “old”, and all-out approach to win in the “new”, INFOSYS is doing all it takes to return to growth leadership. It is on track to meet the same in calendar year 2016. Among the biggest changes INFOSYS underwent in its transformation endeavor is the appointment of an outsider as the first non-founder CEO – Dr. Vishal Sikka. The move for outsider as the new CEO was in essence, to gear INFOSYS up for the changing demand dynamics and to ensure that its offerings do not lose relevance in the new world. Nearly 18 months since the change at the top, the strategic direction announced by the company, and the progress thus far makes it evident that the company is doing all it takes to win in the Digital era. INFOSYS has clearly upped the ante on acquisitions, and while it has entered into three transactions on that front, it anticipates that inorganic foray will likely to add up and contribute around USD 1.5 billion to the top-line in next five years’ time. INFOSYS has launched Infosys Information Platform (IIP), which leverages the power of open source to address big data adoption challenges such as inadequate accessibility of easy-to-use development tools; fragmented approach to building data pipelines; and lack of an enterprise-ready version of open source big data analytics. Such new initiatives in the company are targeted to contribute around USD 2 billion in five years’ time. 
Under the new CEO, INFOSYS has forged alliances with the likes of Hitachi Data Systems, Huawei, Tableau software, and extended relationships with Microsoft and Amazon in order to facilitate adoption of new technologies across its clientele. INFOSYS has set aside USD 50 Cr for investments in startups, including USD 25 Cr for India-based start-ups, and the company is also looking at partaking in every new innovation that can possibly go on to improve the company’s prospects. Its investments in Whoop and CloudEndure a startup that provides Cloud Migration and Cloudbased Disaster Recovery (DR) software are a couple of examples of the same, its recent acquisition of Noah Consulting, LLC, which is a leading provider of advanced information management consulting services for the oil and gas industry. Infosys has also invested in WHOOP, an early stage company that offers a performance optimization system for elite professional sports teams. Infosys has also and is working for great projects across the globe such as the power engineering major ALSTOM selected Infosys for next-generation services in application engineering, development and maintenance, in addition to product lifecycle management to reduce IT costs, improve user experience, and increase the efficiency of the product design process. The MRJ90, the flagship aircraft of the Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation, Japan (MITAC) recently completed its maiden test flight and Infosys helped MITAC in the mechanical design of fuselage structures, delivered continuous improvements through automation, and reduced both the cost and cycle time. Mercedes Benz Research and Development Centre, India, has partnered with Infosys to run their complete data-centre and network operations support in 15 countries across the APAC region, increasing agility and automation and reducing cost of operations. DNB Bank of Norway selected Infosys to transform their application landscape. Applying AiKiDo, the company will leverage knowledge-based non-disruptive renewal to evolve DNB Bank’s entire Data cluster, data warehousing services, regulatory reporting, and ERP functions. Commerzbank also choose Infosys for a multi-year application management program to develop a post trade utility for the bank, leveraging principles of Design Thinking and the AiKiDo framework to simplify application architecture, standardize and improve processes, and drive cost efficiency. Since taking over as CEO of Infosys in August 2014, Dr. Vishal Sikka, who was earlier on the executive board of SAP AGs, first rolled out initiative named Design Thinking workshops at many of the company’s facilities across the country. According to the management, over 70,000 of its employees have undertaken a day-long class in Design Thinking, first popularized by IDEO, a California-based consulting firm. Later, Infosys rolled out Zero Distance initiative, because it wanted its engineers to apply the learnings of Design Thinking in each of the projects. Infosys Ltd believes Zero Distance, the newest initiative which is aimed to make its engineers think imaginatively, is an extension of the user-centric process of Design Thinking to help the firm have a tangible and valuable impact for its clients, as the company aims to become a $20 billion next-generation services software firm by the year 2020. The Infosys management believes that the Zero Distance is a very specific application of Design Thinking principles as it outlines for thousands of project managers a five-point roadmap to “jump-start innovation” within their project. Zero Distance initiative will help Infosys’s clients save more than $1 billion a year. This is the first time chief executive Dr. Sikka has put a number to measure the success of the approach introduced in March last year. Under the Zero Distance initiative - the software engineers have either come up with a more efficient way to complete a project or have gone beyond the scope of work to offer new solutions in over 90 % of the 8,500 master projects currently underway. Zero Distance along with the user-centric approach of Design Thinking would emerge as two of the most successful initiatives of Dr. Sikka. Design Thinking has helped the company more than double its share of large deal wins from less than $400 million in a quarter to $900 million in a quarter. Design Thinking is a framework, or a scaffolding, for creativity and innovation. It emphasizes empathetic ‘problem finding’ and iterative ‘problem solving’. It works well in an environment of ambiguity, but great opportunity such as all digital transformation initiatives. These initiatives are helping to bring about a cultural change in the way the 35-year-old firm has traditionally done business. These initiatives have even succeeded at major accounts where cost savings and more efficient approaches been recorded, and even business model innovations are being presented to clients that in the past would have been ignored. Looking the acquisition coupled with the large and variety of projects Infosys surely has the upper hand in the industry and has all the factors that can drive growth in the IT sector.

 Outlook and Valuation:   
Infosys was a pioneer in developing the global delivery model, which provided it with a formidable competitive advantage when offshore outsourcing gained momentum in the early 1990’s and later became an integral part of the IT services industry. The company proactively invested, and continues to invest a significant portion of its resources in developing and improving high-quality processes and methodologies. This not only helps Infosys to streamline its operations and deliver quality services to clients, but also makes it easier for the company to scale its operations when demand picks up, without compromising cost and quality. The company extended this commitment to pursue high-quality standards to other aspects of its business, including physical and technological infrastructure, human resource management, financial accounting, and corporate-governance practices. These actions helped Infosys differentiate itself from its peers. As with other offshore IT service providers, Infosys' foundation was built around its legacy application development and maintenance business. Though the business still accounts a significant portion of the company's revenue, its overall contribution has declined, as Infosys expanded its offerings and moved up the IT services value chain. The company's comprehensive portfolio includes products and services that span the IT services spectrum, starting from high-end consulting and moving on to package implementation and even low-end business process outsourcing. These new service offerings provide Infosys with new growth avenues and enable it to expand its penetration with existing clients. The company's ability to offer end-to-end service offerings, coupled with its fully developed global delivery model, puts it in an elite league of service provider’s like Accenture, IBM, and Cap Gemini that can offer a complete set of integrated services. Infosys boasts a large and have expansive base of more than 1045 active customers. The company has developed strong working relationships with top management at these companies, and most of its clients have been with Infosys for a long time. A large portion of new business is generated through existing relationships in the IT services industry, and Infosys' larger client base gives it a slight edge. Further, an established client base provides good visibility on revenue streams & repeat business, which accounts for more than 98 % of Infosys' revenue. Infosys’s strategy ‘renew and new’ have started shows its results. Its renewing delivery method of existing services and also building new services of the future resonated with the changing landscape of technology demand have started bearing fruits. Several senior personnel from SAP have been recruited to facilitate this. Successful execution of the strategy will help Infosys to regain its bellwether status with industry-leading growth at strong profitability. Infosys’s cost structures have stabilized, allowing it to balance investments and profitability without having significant volatility on the margins. There remains room to improve utilization, and INFO is trying to breach perceived theoretical maximum through its zero-bench initiative. Utilization, optimizing onsite employee cost as a percentage of the revenue and benefits from new initiatives like automation should all help cushion pressures from pricing in the legacy business. Infosys highlighted that it is retaining the benefits of automation and not fully passing it on to clients. It stated that automation will get commoditised in a few years and Infosys is going to have an early-mover advantage in this space, but there will be a higher pass-through to clients in later years. Automation has been highlighted as the largest productivity improvement lever in the medium-to-long term. The focus is now to shift the company from basic level of automation to more cognitive automation that can handle more complex tasks.
There are number of initiatives that were kick-started by Vishal Sikka. It highlighted that it has improved the number of engagements with its platforms including Infosys Information Platform - IIP with more than 200 engagements, Infosys Automation Platform – IAP with 121 engagements, Panaya, and Skava. All these innovations resulted in significant savings in efforts for the company which helped it to free 1,100 odd people in 3QFY16 on top of 800 done in 2QFY16. Infosys reported net employee addition of 5,400 during the quarter. The company stated that more than 69,000 of its employees have undergone training in Design Thinking, which is helping it to develop good innovative solutions and has changed the nature of conversation with clients. The Employee attrition rate declined from 19.9 % in the previous quarter to 18.1 % in 3QFY16. The quarterly annualised attrition rate declined from 14.1 % to 13.4 % sequentially. This is the lowest level of attrition which the company witnessed in the past 15 quarters. The rise in visa costs could potentially hit the company’s margins by 0.30 % to 0.35 % in FY17E based on the current assessment of Infosys. The management stated that revenue growth surpassed its own estimate on account of lower-than-expected furloughs and mitigation of certain client-specific problems. It also indicated no financial impact from Chennai floods. Following a good quarter, Infosys revised upwards its CC revenue growth guidance for FY16 from 10.0 % to 12.0 % earlier to 12.8 %to 13.2 %, while USD guidance was upped from 7.2 % to 9.2 % to 8.9 % to 9.3 %. The company maintained its margin guidance band of 24 % to 26 % for FY16. Infosys reported EBIT margin of 24.9% for 3QFY16 versus 25.5% in 2QFY16, leading to margin contraction by 60bps. Infosys indicated that it was well positioned to achieve industry-leading growth in FY17, a goal it had set for itself about two years ago. The management also highlighted that IT services budgets in CY16 will remain flat to marginally down. There will also be a downward revision in Energy vertical. Players with the right mix of offerings – Automation and Innovative Solutions - will continue to grow, despite flat budgets. The company also maintained its 2020 target of a 30 % margin on the back of increased adoption of automation capabilities. After Vishal Sikka came in as CEO, Infosys became more focused on customers with introduction of new initiative, making senior consultants responsible for selling the entire stack of services to their allocated clients, re-engineering Request For Proposal or RFP response process, etc and on delivery that is bringing in more automation to services like IMS and BPO – fast growing service lines for the industry where Infosys lost market share over the years, getting grassroots innovation going through suggestions from project-level employees, etc. Thus, it is very likely that Infosys will gain market share and grow above industry. The industry itself is unlikely to grow at more than a high single-digit rate over FY16E-FY18E. The Net Sales and PAT of the company are expected to grow at a CAGR of 15 % and 12 % over 2014 to 2017E respectively. At the current market price of Rs. 1175.55, the stock is trading at PE of 20.06 x FY16E and 17.97x the FY17E. Earnings per share (EPS) of the company for FY16E could be seen at Rs. 58.59 and Rs. 65.39 for FY17E. It is expected that shares of INFOSYS to hit all time high soon and the company will keep its growth story intact in the coming quarters also and can be a good pick from this IT sector. It is expected that the company’s surplus scenario is likely to continue for the next three years keeping its growth story in the coming quarters also. 

KEY FINANCIALSFY15FY16EFY17EFY18E
SALES ( Crs)53,319.0061,948.9070,612.1080,113.80
NET PROFIT (₹ Cr)12,329.0013,305.4015,582.5017,637.00
EPS ()53.9058.2068.1077.10
PE (x)21.0019.5016.6014.70
P/BV (x)4.704.203.803.40
EV/EBITDA (x)15.4013.3011.309.70
ROE (%)24.1022.9024.0024.10
ROCE (%)24.0022.9024.0024.10

As I always say, I am a long term believer in markets & I do respect the markets and will keep a strict stop loss of 8 % on every purchase(Why Strict stop loss of 8 % ?) -  Click Here

*As the author of this blog I disclose that I do not hold INFOSYS Ltd in my any of the portfolios.


*Reader Friends, grab a fresh hot cup of coffee, turn on your net & browse on to www.bhavikkshah.blogspot.in & take out few minutes to get to know the most interesting world of investment... Till then HAPPY INVESTING, don't forget to Share !!

*Dear Reader friend, if you enjoyed this article, please do share it with your Friends and Colleagues through Facebook and Twitter, and drop in your valuable thoughts in comment box..

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer
This is a personal blog and presents entirely personal views on stock market. Any statement made in this blog is merely an expression of my personal opinion. These informations are sourced from publicly available data. By using/reading this blog you agree to (i) not to take any investment decision or any other important decisions based on any information, opinion, suggestion, expressions or experience mentioned or presented in this blog (ii) Any investment decisions taken if any would be his/hers sole responsibility. (iii) the author of this blog is not responsible.  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

READ HERE TO KNOW MORE ON LONG TERM INVESTING - CLICK HERE

VIEW THE POWER POINT PRESENTATION ON

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Share

Why you should have a Stop Loss of 8 % ? Click to know more. Author is also on Facebook and Click here for SHORT STORIES

X