Good day, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Pelcia, the moderator of this call. Thank you for standing by, and welcome to Nucleus Software Quarterly Earnings Conference Call. For the duration of the presentation, all participants' lines will be in the listen-only mode. We will have a question and answer session after the presentation. I would now like to hand over the floor to Ms. Swati Ahuja. Thank you, and over to you, ma'am.
Thanks, Pelcia. Good afternoon, everyone. This is Swati from Investor Relations team at Nucleus Software. A very warm welcome to all of you for this Nucleus Software Earnings Conference Call for the quarter and the year ended on March 31, 2024. For discussion, we have here from the management team, Mr. Vishnu R. Dusad, our Managing Director; Mr. Parag Bhise, CEO and Executive Director.
Mr. Anurag Mantri, COO and Executive Director; Mr. Surya Prakash Kanodia, Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Ashwani Arora, Senior Vice President; Mr. Ashish Khanna, Marketing Head; Mr. Mukesh Bangia, Vice President; Mr. Pradeep Malik, Vice President; Ms. Swati Patwardhan, Chief Human Resource Officer; and Mr. Tapan Jayaswal, Financial Controller.
As you all are aware, Nucleus Software does not provide any specific revenue earning guidance. Anything which is said during this call, which may reflect our outlook for the future or which may be construed as a forward-looking statement, must be reviewed in conjunction with the risk that the company faces. An audio transcript of this call will be shortly available on the investor section of our website, www.nucleussoftware.com. With this, we are now ready to begin with the opening comments on the performance of the company, and post that we would be available for the question and answer session. With this, I now pass over to Vishnu Sir. Over to you, sir.
Thanks, Swati. We take this opportunity to welcome all of you, the long-term investors of Nucleus Software, and we thank you for your sustained interest in this long-term player in BFSI sector. We're pleased to present our numbers for the first, fourth quarter and year ending March 2024. Over to you... Over to you, Tapan.
Okay, sir. Swati, am I audible?
Yes, sir, you are audible.
Okay.
Please go ahead, sir.
Straight from financials are revenue. Our consolidated revenue for the quarter is at INR 210.3 crores, against INR 204.1 crores quarter-on-quarter, and INR 206.2 crores year-on-year. For the year, it is INR 826.5 crores, against INR 634.5 crores for the previous year. Overall revenue in foreign currency, including Indian rupees revenue, is $25.3 million for the quarter, $25.1 million quarter-on-quarter, and $25.2 million year-on-year.
For the year, is $100.6 million, against $79.7 million for the previous year. As for product revenue for the quarter is at INR 179.4 crores, against INR 175.3 crores quarter-on-quarter, and INR 179.6 crores year-on-year. For the year, it is INR 711.4 crores, INR 536.9 crores for the previous year. Revenue from projects and services for the quarter is at INR 30.9 crores, quarter-on-quarter, and INR 26.6 crores year-on-year. For the year, it is INR 115.1 crore, against INR 97.5 crore for the previous year. Moving on to the expenses.
Cost of delivery, including cost of product development for the quarter, is 63.5% of revenue, is 61.8% of revenue quarter-on-quarter, and 51.9% of revenue year-on-year. In absolute terms, this is INR 133.5 crore, against INR 126.1 crore quarter-on-quarter, and INR 106.9 crore year-on-year. For the year, it is INR 511 crore, against INR 405.3 crore for the previous year. As for marketing and sales expenses for the quarter is 3.3% of revenue, percent of revenue quarter-on-quarter, and 2.2% year-on-year. In absolute terms, this is INR 6.9 crore, INR 7.3 crore quarter-on-quarter, and INR 4.6 crore year-on-year. For the year, it is at INR 36.6 crore, against INR 21.5 crore for the previous year.
As for G&A expenses for the quarter is 5.7% of revenue, is 9% of revenue quarter-on-quarter, and 5.9% year-on-year. So in absolute terms, this is INR 12 crore, against 18.2 crore quarter-on-quarter, and INR 12.2 crore for year-on-year. For the year, at INR 59.4 crores, against INR 52 crores the previous year. For the quarter is at INR 58 crore against INR 47.4 crore, quarter-on-quarter, and INR 82.5 crore, year-on-year. For the year, is at INR 219.5 crore, against INR 155.8 crore the previous year. Other income from investment and deposit is at INR 14 crore, 0.8 crore, quarter-on-quarter, and INR 9.1 crore, year-on-year.
Total other income for the quarter is at INR 14.2 crore, against INR 12 crore, quarter-on-quarter, and INR 9.7 crore, year-on-year. For the year, other income from investment and deposit is at INR 48.1 crore, against INR 28.1 crore for the previous year. Total other income for the year is at INR 50.9 crore, the previous year. Total taxes are at INR 16.3 crores, 6 crore, quarter-on-quarter, and INR 20.09 crore, year-on-year.
For the year, taxes are INR 64.2 crores against 3.3 crores the previous year. Net profit is at INR 52.1 crore for the quarter, 51.3 crore quarter-on-quarter, and INR 67.6 crore year-on-year. For the year, it is at INR 191.6 crores, against INR 127.8 crores. Net comprehensive income is at INR -6 crore for the quarter, against INR 1.6 crores quarter-on-quarter, INR 2.8 crore year-on-year. For the year, it is at INR 1.9 crore against INR 8 crore in the previous year. Total comprehensive income, which includes net profit and other comprehensive income, is at INR 46.1 crore for the quarter quarter-on-quarter, and INR 70.4 crores year-on-year.
For the year, it is at INR 193.6 crore, against INR 135.8 crore in the previous year. For quarter is at INR 19.48, as against INR 15.43, quarter-on-quarter, and INR 5.27, year-on-year. For the year, it is at INR 71.56, against INR 47.73. In terms of foreign currency hedges on March 31, 2024, $3.5 million of forward contracts at an average rate of 83.78. It is a mark-to-market gain of INR 0.04 crore, which is taken to hedging reserve in the balance sheet. New contribution from the top five client for the quarter is at 7.5%, against 26.7% in the previous quarter.
Order book position is INR 780 crores, including INR 707.7 crores of product business and INR 72.3 crores of project and services business. On December 31, 2023, the order book position was INR 743.7 crores, including INR 98.9 crores of product business and INR 44.8 crores of project and services business. Total cash and cash equivalent as on March 31, 2024 are INR 808 crores, against INR 749.6 crores as on December 31, 2023. Swati, am I audible?
Sir, please go ahead. You are audible, sir.
Improved balances in current account of INR 45.8 crores, investments in mutual funds of INR 602.9 crores, fixed deposit of INR 125.3 crores, investment in tax-free bonds of... In regards to receivables, we are at INR 166.2 crores against this quarter. During the quarter, there is a gross addition of fixed assets of INR 5.53 crores, consisting primarily of INR 2.24 crores on computer, 0.22 crores on furniture fixtures, 0.7 crores on office equipment, and 1.3 crores on software, and 0.07 crores on plant and machinery. Swati?
Hello, sir. Please go ahead, sir.
Yeah. So now I hand over to Swati.
Just a moment, sir... Thank you, sir. If you wish to ask a question, please press star and one on your telephone keypad and wait for your name be announced. I welcome the management team. Please go ahead. Dhananjay, please go ahead. Request you to please connect again.
Hello? Swati.
Yes, sir, please go ahead, sir.
I have completed. Should I read it again?
Sorry, sorry.
Okay, sir. Okay, sir. No, not required, please. Parag sir, are you there?
Yes, I am here. I'm with you.
Okay. Request you a few words on the performance of the company.
Okay. Yeah, thank you so much, Swati. I welcome everyone to this investor call, and thank you so much for your continued support. I think we continue to work on the fundamentals in this quarter and for the year that ended on 31st March. I think the results are indicative of that. Otherwise, we are continuing to work on the fundamentals that we spoke about in the last few quarters, and we'll share more updates on them as we go forward. Once again, thank you all for joining this call. Please go ahead with the questions.
Thank you, sir. Pelcia, now we can start the question and answer session, so I hand over to you. Over to you, Pelcia.
Thank you, ma'am. If you wish to ask a question, please press star and one on your telephone keypad, and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star and one again. If you wish to ask a question, please press star and one on your telephone keypad and wait for your name to be announced. The first question comes from Rahul Jain, from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. I hope my line is audible.
Yes, it is, Rahul.
Yeah, hi. Thank you, Krishnan ji. Basically, first question I would have is that, what could be the retrospective component in the Q4 revenue? And can we say we are done with the entire repricing exercise?
No, we are still not done with the repricing exercise. There are some, I would say 20%-30% customers who are, whom we are usually going to.
This 20%-30% is in terms of revenue or account?
Really in terms of account.
Okay. And, I think earlier you said that these are mostly in some overseas markets. So any geography which is still due to go through this?
Asia Pacific, Middle East also.
Okay. And, ideally, you expect this to conclude over the next 3-6 months, or this might take longer?
It could take longer also.
Okay. And, is it safer to assume that since this process is going for a long time, as and when they agree, the retrospective component will be way higher because that increase would be for more than one year?
That, you know, will depend on, you know, how the negotiations proceed. One may or may not be able to comment on that.
Right. Right. So case-to-case basis, it could be longer, it could be effective from that date also.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Right. And, I think you missed the first part, which is like, what could be the retrospective element in the current quarter?
Actually, we do not share these insights that what have been the retrospective effect of this. We will not be able to share that.
Okay. Got it. And, it's been almost six quarters since we've been doing that, any attrition because of repricing or otherwise that we might have observed?
Let me just come in here to say that, you know, the value of our intellectual property is so high, and our relationship with all our customers is so good that by God's grace and their deep understanding of the value that we add, not a single customer has exited us.
Right. Right. And, sir... Any comment you could share in terms of new customer addition? We have seen significant spends on marketing and overall, you know, aspect. So, have those spends started culminating into a stronger pipeline? Because from a pure revenue perspective, it is yet to reflect in a meaningful deal win.
Sure. Hi, This is, Ashish Khanna. So thank you for this question. I think, since most of our, I mean, the marketing expenditure in different areas on events and top leadership is definitely helping us in changing the brand perception and also to build an effective pipeline. So that's already there now, and I think we are in a process of—we acquired some logos last year, but we are in process of acquiring, you know, multiple logos in coming years. So yeah, I think that is going in the right direction. It is giving us required outcomes.
Just to add that, to what you have mentioned, it's not reflecting in the revenue, so that is not right, because the marketing event and those activities are aimed at the market, in driving the prospects as well as, current customers. So that's already in that sense, reflecting on our revenue.
Sorry, sir, I could not understand. Can you elaborate more?
This is Anurag. What I'm saying is that the marketing activities are towards the brand management, and it, this includes, this aims at both new prospects as well as existing customers. I just wanted to respond to you that it's already reflecting in terms of the existing customers' revenue, it's already reflecting the marketing activities, and its effectiveness is also getting reflected.
Anurag, essentially what you're saying is that you would be, you would have been able to, sell more modules, to your existing customers, although the new logos may not be significant in this period?
That's right. Yeah, that's right.
Yeah. And, I would, I mean, this is a repeat question, which I've been asking earlier also. Is there a reason why we have stopped sharing the client data? Earlier, we used to give the new client addition data in our press release, but we stopped the exercise. So any color in any form, if you could share, that would be helpful.
Yeah, I think this quarter onwards, we will be able to start sharing some of the names and, you know, the wins that we talking about.
Any overall number we could share that what could be the active clients for us as of now, who would be using our product?
No, Anurag, once again, we do not share these breakups as well.
Okay, understood. Also, you know, in terms of growth, say, in the order book, trying to slightly understand this. So whenever we are signing this repricing of the AMC, is the contract that we are signing typically one year, or this could be longer also, for the existing customer, not the new customer?
So these contracts are, you know, ongoing contracts. Yeah, the year we sign it from, that year onwards, the new rates start applying.
So basically, let's assume a customer was paying INR 100 as AMC. Now, if he's agreed for the repriced number, and let's assume hypothetically, that is, INR 200. So then in that case, now the order book would reflect INR 200, right?
That is absolutely right.
Versus 100, which was the historical basis.
Right. That's right.
Just, yeah, just last bit on any capital allocation thought process that comes to your mind now, you know, now our run rate of cash generation has also picked up. Any thought process on buyback or in any other manner which you think you could look into?
I know these are typically the board, as, as we always maintain, these are the board decisions, and, I'm sure at the appropriate point of time, they will take that decision.
Right. Just last one from my side. On a costing point of view, the expansion of leadership, as Anurag was also mentioning, or any other meaningful initiative, is it safer to assume in for this year is a good benchmark to understand the steady state, and hereon the expansion in that base would be minimal?
No, I think the expansion will continue, you know, for, for at least a couple of quarters, and then post that it should be a steady state.
Okay. And what is the steady state margin you think you would land up once this entire process behind us?
So as you know, we do not give guidance, so we would not be able to comment on this question.
This investment would happen irrespective of the revenue traction?
I think the way I would like to make use of this opportunity to respond to your question is, our customers look up to us for the comprehensiveness of our solution. You know, our solutions, as we have talked earlier, our transaction banking solution processes transactions worth $13-$14 trillion. Likewise, our lending solution originates, services, collects $0.5 trillion worth of loans in India alone.
Now, these kind of numbers are possible only when you give the confidence to customers that, yes, you know, this partner will continue to support them for not just years, but decades to come. For that, you do want to make sure that you are going all out in the market, understanding what are the developments in the market, and then which of those technological developments you want to make available to your customers at the earliest, and so on and so forth. And that is what is, that is what has been the theme of the company. And, you know, that's how we've been able to provide that confidence to all our customers. And that is how we are able to say that despite the price increase, not a single customer has left us.
No, I do appreciate, and, I'm sure you are aware I've been appreciating your business for more than a decade. My question was, or let me ask you in a different way. For example, for the last 35-36 odd quarters, our revenue is give or take around that INR 200 number, and last year, Q4, our profit was around INR 67 crore, if I'm not wrong, which is now INR 52 crore. So this is what exactly I'm trying to understand that, of course, we have done really well over 2-year period, not specific, this particular year only.
But what I'm trying to understand, whether this INR 200 crore will, you know, slowly go to a higher number, whatever is that number, will the margin also expand with it? Or, whether it would be revenue growth first that may happen and profit may eventually come, as it's been coming off the last 4, 5 quarters that way.
Hello. Clearly, you know, intent is to make sure that the top line as well as bottom line grows. There is no reason for us to believe that, you know, when it comes to bottom line, it will be stuck at INR 200 or any such number of that kind. That's all I can say at this point of time.
Perfect. Thank you, sir. I'll join the queue.
Thank you for appreciating our business for a decade.
Thank you. I request the participants to restrict to three questions in the initial round and join back the queue for more questions. Next question comes from Chinmay Nema, from Prescient Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir, thank you for taking my question. I hope I'm audible.
Yeah, you are.
Great. Sir, firstly, if I look year-on-year, the revenue growth has been somewhat better at 2%. And, if I look at the geographical split, it's India businesses has had revenue degrowth of about 13%. Could you provide some color or commentary on why this has been?
So right this side, India business has not seen a degrowth. It's basically the distribution has gone down because the international markets, there are a couple of markets where the revenue has gone up.
Sir, I see it was INR 124 crore in March 2023 and INR 108 crore in March 2024. That is what I'm referencing.
That was that that was related to. I understand that. That was related to some of the AMC repricing that got into effect in that quarter. And since that has... And some of the projects which were actually completed in that particular quarter has led to this increase. So AMC remains the same, but the projects completion were different in the previous in the last quarter of the last financial year.
So, basically, you're saying that the low growth is because of a high base for March 2023, is that correct?
Okay. The, the billing course degrowth is essentially because of the, you know, substantial accumulation of revenue in that particular quarter, which was for earlier few quarters.
Okay.
You can take 1 point as a billings growth rate, rather than taking 124 as a steady state.
Understood. Secondly, could you talk about the adoption of FinnOne Neo, how it's been going? What has the conversion been like for the older clients? If you could provide some color on that.
Hi, this is Ashwani. So one, I think, we are seeing a good traction in terms of the transformation from FinnOne to FinnOne Neo. We are working on a lot of accounts, including the multi-country accounts, based out of Middle East. We are seeing a good traction in India. So a lot of our customers have come forward, where they're looking forward to get the, their FinnOne to transform to FinnOne Neo, apart from the new orders. So it is going great.
Could you, could you quantify as in your top 10 clients, how much, how many of them are already on FinnOne Neo?
I think there would be 60+ accounts which would be on FinnOne Neo, and every year we are getting this number better and better.
This is 60 out of how many accounts?
I think that we already shared. We are not in a position to share the total number of accounts, so.
Okay, sir. And lastly, could you provide some timeline for this INR 780 crore order book that you've highlighted? I mean, what should be the span over which we should see the revenue from this order book?
Typically, you know, this number comes from some orders which are as small a duration as three to six months, and some at the other end of the spectrum, orders which would last for five years. So, it is difficult for us to, you know, quantify in that manner.
Understood, sir. Thank you, everyone, bye.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question comes from Shantanu Naik, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Thank you for calling. I am Shantanu Naik.
I'm sorry to interrupt, sir. Could you please speak a little louder?
Yes. So thank you for opportunity. Hello? Hello.
Yes, sir.
Yes. So, I just have two questions. Like, first being, how does our product stand in market which is competitive? Basically, I am, basically I'm trying to understand the product. Like, how does our product fit in the system, if we say?
So, okay, I think Ashish this side . When it comes to positioning our product in with respect to competitor, I think, so for us, the competitors are really the, you know, the informal lenders who are lending to the masses at an exorbitant rate. So we treat them as our competitor. And, I think if you look at the depth and breadth of our product adoption, if I talk about India as an example, I think 60%-70% of the market share, when it comes to origination, servicing or collection of retail and corporate assets, it leverages FinnOne or FinnOne Neo as a platform. So I think with that benchmarking in place and with that confidence in our customers, we don't really see...
We do really see a complementary product coming into the market, but we don't see a very direct competitor who can bring a similar robust solution to the market.
But I do think we have one TCS BaNCS, right? Have you heard of it? It's a total lending solution.
Total lending solution.
Yeah.
Sorry, I missed your word. Can you be louder?
Yes. So, there's a product, TCS BaNCS, okay.
TCS Banks.
That provides total end-to-end solution.
Yeah, I think we understand about that, but I think we don't come into very specific, in comp, you know, our comparison with any specific product comparison. So we don't talk about it. But you know, I just mentioned about what we provide, you know, as a solution. But since you talked about TCS, so just want to give you an example or an insight of a customer. Though we don't take name of a customer, but let me take it. Tata Capital, which is again part of the Tata Group, their entire financial arm, Tata Capital, they leverage FinnOne Neo as a solution for to manage their retail assets.
So, I think that's good enough testimonial to, you know, humbly say that even we are; we don't see that as a competition.
Okay, okay. And correct me if I'm wrong, so we have almost 60%-70% share in lending product, right?
That's right.
Okay. Just that. And my, my second question would be: so what would be the revenue share from three of our taxi products, if we say?
We don't really, so sorry. I think, you know, as per our policy, we don't give that breakup, you know, on the percentage.
Any ballpark figure or any approximation like?
No, no. We don't, we don't really give that breakup. Sorry about that.
Okay, what would be the one thing that would be absolutely working for us? And what are the things that are not working for us, or the things we need to improve in respective products, like?
I think what is working for us is the design and the architecture of our product. The ultra-flexible design, which allows our customers to design new offerings within hours, as against weeks or months that some of them used to take before using our product. So that is the beauty of our product. And talking about what is not working, maybe the integration between our various modules, couple of modules that may not be the most optimum. We are working on it right now. Thanks for raising this question.
Okay, thank you. Thank you. So I would like to, like, understand more about the product. So, like, can we connect offline or some person from IR can connect better?
Sure. I think, sure, you can connect us offline. I hope you will, you'll give us some more customers.
Yeah, sure, sure. For sure. Thank you.
Okay.
Thanks.
Thank you. Next question comes from Devesh Jhaver, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Hello. Yeah, am I audible?
Yes, go ahead.
Yeah. Congratulations on the great set of numbers. Sir, my question is regarding the bifurcation of what is what component of this revenue is one-off and what could be sustainable for the upcoming years?
This is Anurag. Once again, I'm afraid, we do not share these breakups from our side.
But, sir, like, as an analyst, we would need some breakup, breakups, so we can project what the, the next year look like.
Sorry, you know, as I had mentioned in my opening comment, we are a long-term player looking forward to long-term investors. We may or may not be able to help. We do make efforts to help you, but we may or may not be able to help you predicting for next year and so on.
Sir, the second question is regarding what is the market share of our lending software FinnOne Neo in Indian market?
Yeah, as we talked earlier, it's 60%-70%. Our lending market share is 60%-70%.
Thank you. Bye.
Thank you. Next question comes from Kevin Gandhi, from CapGrow Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. Thanks for taking the question. I hope my voice is audible.
Yes, please go ahead.
Yeah. Sir, you mentioned that around 20%-30% customers are left for repricing. So just wanted to understand, are they the larger accounts or the smaller accounts which are left for repricing?
We may not be, again, able to comment on that. You know, these, some of these accounts are very large in terms of their size. Some of them are small. So again, we would not be able to give you any indicator.
Okay, sir. Fair enough. I just had, like, one more question. So basically, since most of the repricing is done, as you just mentioned, almost 60%-70% is done, what are the growth drivers for the company going ahead as far as the top line of the revenue goes?
Yeah, it's essentially new customers.
Okay. How are you planning to scale the FinnOne Neo product which we have launched?
When you say, how are we planning to scale, what exactly do you mean?
The FinnOne Neo product which we have launched. So basically, how many customers do we serve right now? And, what's the target market for FinnOne Neo as far as the Indian market goes?
Yeah, we are. So this is Ashish. So the scale we are trying to target is for all the, you know, different geographies we are trying to target, with new customers, as, Vishnu sir mentioned. So, so that's our, I mean, we are, we are planning to expand in some new geographies as well. So, so it's going to be US, Japan, Canada. So we are, we are trying to explore. So the, so the opportunities are immense for the, for the for our , new tech solution, which we have now. And we are, we are, like, very positive about that movement.
Okay. And, sir, just, one last question from my side. So basically, 20% was the EBITDA margin, approximately operating margin. Do we assume this to be normalized going forward, or is there any scope to increase the margins further for the coming quarters or the coming years? Thank you.
You know, we always would like to increase, but we cannot say whether this is normalized or... We will always make efforts to keep increasing the margin.
Okay, sir, thank you and all the best for the future.
...Next question comes from Sanjay K, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Hi, good evening, and congratulations to your entire team for good set of numbers in this difficult market. So my question is about, normally Q4 is generally your strongest quarter for the company. And last two years, like FY 2023 and FY 2024, Q4 grown almost 20%+ compared to Q3, but this Q4 it is less than 7%. So any reason for that?
Some of the orders have got postponed to, coming quarters. That is the reason.
Oh, okay. So we are saying that the order got postponed, the revenue will recognize into this coming quarter?
Yeah, as we book the orders, that is the time we start recognizing the revenue. So since the orders are not booked, you know, we are looking forward to booking them in coming quarters, and that's when the-
Okay.
Top line would increase.
Oh, that's great. Yeah. And other thing about how the hiring situation now, I mean, are you going to hire more resources in FY 2025, or you are still done with the hiring?
So, yes, we do have hiring plans, both for... We have, as an organization, we have been hiring a lot of young minds, freshers, so we will be continuing with that. And in addition to that, the experienced professionals, we are talking in terms of 300 professionals to be onboarded.
Oh, that's great. Yeah. And the other question is, are you guys planning any roadshows to attract institutional investors or analysts? We are not hearing much of those roadshows happening. So any plans for that?
Not yet, please. Not yet.
Okay. Even about the new customer, I mean, even last quarter also, there was not much announcement about new customer acquisition or new big one. So any such announcements are expected? I mean, are you completely stopped giving any such information to the market?
We did acquire customers, but we'll make the announcement as and when it is convenient.
Okay. And the last question is about just as you guys not give any guidance, but at least FY 2025 usually it is going to be better than FY 2024, or at least the quarter-wise growth. I mean, is it going to be better than FY 2024?
That's what we are striving for. I think, definitely we, we want that. Let's see how things goes, but definitely that's what we are targeting to.
Good. And the last question, any particular region are you seeing the growth is getting better compared to the years, whether it's Middle East or it's Australia or Europe, or any particular region is getting better?
It's across. Our marketing activities are happening across, and we are expecting good traction and good conversions from all the markets we are focusing on.
All right. Thank you very much, and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question comes from Anand B, from White Oak Capital. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. Can you give us what was the gross and net hiring for financial year 2024?
So, with respect to year-on-year, we have added 102 headcounts. And if we talk about quarter-on-quarter, we have added 47...
Noted. Sir, this is gross or net number?
This is incremental number. And this is-
Okay.
This is basically the, the net number.
Noted, noted. Can you give us some sense of what have been the attrition, approximate attrition?
The attrition, less than 5%.
Noted. With regards to the plans, you mentioned US, Canada, Japan. Is there any order where you see-
Just one thing, I would just like to make a correction. The attrition is close to 7%.
Noted. Noted.
Yeah, please.
With regards to the markets, US, Canada, Japan, can you give us some broader color of a longer-term plan? What are you aiming at, let's say, from a three-year perspective, in these markets?
So as you decide, we started our engagement in this market, started market exploration activities in the U.S., Canada, Japan. We are already there from last close to 25 years now. So the plans, we are as of now in exploration stage, but I think next one and a half year, we will be able to see some business coming from those markets.
... So can't give you a plan as such from the three years, but that's a way forward we have started working on. And we see a great fit of our FinnOne Neo offering in this market in one or other form, depending upon the, you know, use case or depending upon the the business which want to transform in in those markets.
Noted. And lastly, from a spending perspective, how are you seeing the broad spending in the BFSI space, across globally? If you can give us some context and color.
So I think the market is growing really fast. I think, with, with the digital transformation as one of the key, core area for any financial institution, not just in India, but across all the geographies where we are interacting with either our customers or the prospective customers. So digital transformation is one of the key area of, the CEO or MD of any financial institution you, you talk to. So we see a great, attraction and great, scope of, you know, doing more investment on this front, and we see Nucleus strategically placed in, in those areas.
Sure. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question comes from Ruchi Mukhija, from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. So as I look at your net cash and investments are much weaker than your free float. If you want to conduct a buyback, it wouldn't be possible to deploy all the cash. In addition, you've been a cash-generating company for 20 years. So, can you explain why we should not have a dividend plus buyback policy to pay back around 80% of free cash flow to shareholders, maybe on three-year rolling basis?
Thank you very much for your interest in Nucleus Software, and I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about our long-term philosophy. It is with an intent that we should be, you know, able to support our customers in case of eventuality that we have been operating on a very conservative basis and retaining this cash. So, it is with that intent that, whenever we have done buybacks or whenever we have done dividends, those are restricted, limited. And, you know, despite that, our ROI has been close to 20% over the decades. So that is how. Of course, we would want to increase it, but that is how we look at life.
Okay. Okay, sir. Secondly, on this, with reference to your annual report, so last year annual report. So on page number 205, you list that INR 171 lakhs in the business management services, which appears to suggest that a full-time director and the CFOs are getting paid through a Singapore entity called Nucleus Software Solutions Pte. Ltd. You also mentioned that these expenses is included in the salary and the other benefits to key managerial personnel. So, can you explain what does this mean? Can you simplify this transaction for us?
Certainly. Some of our colleagues operate out of Singapore, and it is expenses on that count that are included in this mention.
Okay, so these are salaries paid to employees out of the Singapore entity?
Absolutely.
Okay.
Employees based out of Singapore, but playing the global roles.
Okay. That's clear. Also, what was the catalyst for us to start this big AMC revision cycle beginning March of 2022? What had happened? If you can tell us the story, it would be really helpful.
Thank you so much for raising this question. We have been saying this to all our investors, that we happen to be selling our IP at ultra deep discounted prices. Then we suddenly realized that, you know, the market prices for our IP are far, far higher. That is the time we started approaching our customers. They have been very kind enough to appreciate the value of our IP, and that is how this entire process has started.
Okay. Also, sir, you have mentioned in the previous calls that you get paid for AMC in advance. Yet in March 2023 annual report, your receivables have went up a lot. So could you explain why would receivable go up, if lot of maintenance receivables are part of the business that increase and when you get prepaid?
So partially it was due to some of the receivables linked with a geography where generally it's a longer cycle to receive the payments. That is what I can share right now.
... Okay. Maybe not, you had a loss allowance for a loan to subsidiary in your financial statement. So, what was that? It was amount of about INR 232 lakhs. So could you explain what was this?
So, we have a subsidiary in Jaipur, and we have suspended the business operations there for some time. Because of that particular thing, this loss was there. Resuming the operations again in Jaipur is one of our strategic priorities for the year, and we are working on that.
Okay. Understood, sir. Is the AMC revenue mostly in India or it is spread out proportionately by rest of your revenue?
It has been concentrated in India, but we are working on the in the overseas markets as well.
Okay. I have couple of more questions. What proportion of our SG&A overhead would it be split between international business versus India?
I'm afraid we have run short of time, and we will not be able to take any further questions in this session.
Right.
You may reach out to our investor relations team, and we'll return and answer your questions.
Okay. No doubt, sir. Thank you for that.
Thank you. That would be the last question for the day. Now, I hand over the floor to Swati for closing comments.
Thanks, Alisha. Now, we would like to thank all the investors for joining us today on this call. I will now pass it over to Vishnu sir, for his closing comments.
Thank you so very much for your continued interest in Nucleus Software, and we reiterate our commitment to keep building a long-term institution. Thank you.
Thank you, everyone. That concludes the conference for today. Thank you for your participating. You may all disconnect now. Bye.
Thank you.