Good day, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Felicia, the moderator of this call. Thank you for standing by and welcome to Nucleus Software quarterly earnings conference call. For the duration of presentation, all participants' lines will be in listen-only mode. We will have a question and answer session after the presentation. I would now like to hand over the conference to Swati Ahuja. Over to you, Swati.
Thanks, Felicia. Good afternoon, everyone. This is Swati from Investor Relation team at Nucleus Software. A very warm welcome to all of you for this Nucleus Software earning conference call for the quarter and nine months ended on December 31, 2022. For discussion, we are here from the management team, Mr. Vishnu R. Dusad, our Managing Director; Mr. Parag Bhise, CEO and Executive Director; Mr. Anurag Mantri, CFO and Executive Director; Dr. Ritika Dusad, Executive Director and Chief Innovation Officer; Mr. Brajesh Khandelwal, Vice President, NEO Business; Mr. Ashwani Arora, Senior Vice President, Global Customer Success Team; 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 maybe reflect our outlook for the future or which may be construed as a forward-looking statement must be reviewed in conjunction with the risks that the company faces. An audio and transcript of this call would 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 Q&A session. With this, I now pass over to Vishnu, sir. Over to you, sir.
Thank you, Swati, and a warm welcome to all of you for this investor conference call. As we are celebrating three decades of creation of intellectual property on Indian soil this year, allow me to indulge in giving you a perspective on the subject. Three decades back, the banking and financial services industry in India started making bold moves by adopting a completely new business model. This was the business model of retail lending that could give boost to the lifestyle of middle class of the nation and also make BFSI sector itself robust. Along with these bold moves, BFSI sector made another bold move, that of adopting homegrown information technology solutions. It was these pioneering moves by the BFSI sector that we are celebrating.
Thanks to BFSI sector pioneering bold sectors, pioneering bold steps, the sector as a whole has grown to the level that today nearly half of the industry's loans are retailed as compared to less than 5% three decades back. As to their confidence in homegrown intellectual property and in the company that created that intellectual property, the retail assets originated and/or serviced and/or collected using our platform are in the range of INR 40 lakh crores or equivalent of half a trillion dollars in India alone. The number of payments and collections made by our transaction banking product are worth $15 trillion per annum on our transaction banking platform. Over 200 reputed institutions in 50 countries are using this intellectual property created on Indian soil to run their businesses.
We'd like to convey our gratitude and thank all of you investors from the bottom of our heart for taking all the risk with us. We have been trying to understand and visualize our customers' needs and come up with solutions that would fulfill those needs and in turn benefit our investors as well. We'd like to assure you that you will continue to find us far ahead when it comes to fulfilling our customers' needs and expectations. Thank you so very much once again for being with us on celebration of this major milestone in our journey, and looking forward to continuing to play a role in building the economy together. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Vishnu, Sir. This is Parag here. Good afternoon, everyone. I welcome you all to this investor call. As regards this quarter, it has gone more or less as per our expectation, both in terms of financials, as well as in terms of attrition, a key area that we have been talking about. As we have been updating, a few more AMC contract revisions have closed in this quarter. That is reflecting in our financials. This has been possible due to the focus and untiring efforts our leaders and their respective teams who have put in. I really wish to thank them for that. I do wish to sound off here that there is a one-time retrospective effect in these revenue figures due to the reason I mentioned.
The attrition as expected has significantly come down, and we do expect and hope that it stays that way. Another quick update I wish to place is that, we just completed five of our FinnOne Neo implementations in this quarter. We continue our focus on transforming our FinnOne and FinnAxia customers. As you know, FinnOne and FinnAxia are our legacy product platforms, to our next-gen technology platforms, FinnOne Neo and FinnAxia respectively. At the same time, and as we have mentioned in the past, we continue to enhance our project management capabilities by providing sharp focus trainings to our projects and program managers.
That they are prepared to take on this transformation much faster. Thank you very much once again, and over to you, Swati.
Thank you, sir. Tapan, sir, now I request you to put some light on the financial numbers. Over to you, sir.
thanks, Swati. key highlights from financial
Sir, I'm sorry to interrupt you, sir.
Hello?
Tapan, sir. Sir, your voice is not clear, sir.
Okay. Is it better now?
It's better.
It's better.
Yeah.
Please continue, sir. Please go ahead, sir.
Yeah. As for revenue, our consolidated revenue for the quarter is at INR 159.3 crore against INR 130.1 crore quarter-on-quarter and INR 121.6 crore year-on-year. Overall revenue in foreign currency, including India rupee-linked revenue, is $21 million for the quarter against $16.6 million quarter-on-quarter and $16.3 million year-on-year. Product revenue for the quarter is at INR 143 crore against INR 106.2 crore quarter-on-quarter and INR 99 crore year-on-year. Revenue from project and services for the quarter is at INR 26.3 crore against INR 23.9 crore quarter-on-quarter and INR 22.6 crore year-on-year. Moving on to the expenses part.
Cost of delivery, including cost of product development for the quarter, is at 59.9% of revenue against 76.5% of revenue quarter-on-quarter and 79.5% of revenue year-on-year. In absolute terms, this is INR 101.4 crore against INR 99.5 crore quarter-on-quarter and INR 96.7 crore year-on-year. As for marketing and sales expenses for the quarter is 4.2% of revenue against 4.3% of revenue quarter-on-quarter and 3.8% year-on-year. In absolute terms, this is INR 7 crore against INR 5.7 crore quarter-on-quarter and INR 4.6 crore year-on-year. As for G&A expenses for the quarter is 7.8% of revenue against 10.6% of revenue quarter-on-quarter and 12.3% year-on-year.
In absolute terms, this is INR 13.3 crores against INR 13.7 crore quarter-on-quarter and INR 14.9 crore year-on-year. EBITDA for the quarter is at INR 47.6 crore, which is 28.1% of revenue against INR 11.2 crores, which is 8.6% of revenue quarter-on-quarter and INR 5.4 crores year-on-year. Other income from investment and deposits is at INR 8.2 crore against INR 6.9 crore quarter-on-quarter and INR 7.1 crore year-on-year. Total other income for the quarter is INR 9.3 crores against INR 8.3 crore quarter-on-quarter and INR 8 crore year-on-year. Total expenses are at INR 13.7 crore against INR 3.9 crore quarter-on-quarter and INR 1.4 crore year-on-year.
As for net profit, it stands at INR 38.3 crore for the quarter against INR 11.03 crore for the quarter and INR 8.0 crore for the year-on-year. Other comprehensive income is at INR 3.58 crore for the quarter against INR 1.6 crore quarter-on-quarter and negative-.
Sorry to interrupt you, sir. Your voice is breaking, please check.
Should I speak again on other comprehensive income, Swati?
Sir, I'm sorry to interrupt you, sir.
What's that?
Dear participants, kindly stay connected while we connect the management team back on the call. I repeat, dear participants, kindly stay connected while we connect the management back on the call.
Tapan here.
Tapan, sir, are we joined back?
No, ma'am. Just a second, ma'am. Welcome back, sir. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Am I audible now? Is it clear?
Yes, sir.
Hello. Okay. Total comprehensive income, which includes net profit and other comprehensive income, is at INR 41.8 against INR 12.6 crore quarter-on-quarter and INR 7.6 crore year-on-year. EPS for the quarter is at INR 14.32 as against INR 4.12 in the previous quarter and INR 2.77 in December 31, 2021 quarter. In terms of foreign currency hedges on December 31, 2022, we had $3.7 million of forward contracts at an average rate of 82.13.
There is a mark-to-market loss of INR 43 lakhs, which is taken to hedging reserve in the balance sheet. Revenue contribution from the top five clients for the quarter is 35.8% against 28.5% in the previous quarter. The order book position is INR 559.3 crores, including INR 548.2 crore of product business and INR 21.1 crore of project and services business. On September 30, 2022, the order book position was INR 572.9 crore, including INR 538.9 crore of product business and INR 34 crore of project and services business. As for total cash and cash equivalent as on December 31, 2022, are INR 533.8 crore against INR 558 crore as on September 30, 2022.
This includes balance in current accounts of INR 35.2 crore, various schemes of mutual funds, INR 382.8 crore, fixed deposits of INR 38.6 crore, investments in tax-free bonds of INR 71.9 crore, INR 5.3 crore in preference shares. With regards to receivables, we are at INR 127 crore against INR 73.5 crore previous quarter. During the quarter, there is a gross addition of fixed assets of INR 1.12 crore, consisting primarily of INR 0.58 crore on software, INR 0.14 crore on vehicle, INR 0.06 crore on plant and equipment, and INR 0.34 crore on computers. I hand over to Swati.
Thank you, sir. With this, we are now open for question-and-answer session. I will now hand it over to you, Felicia. Over to you, Felicia.
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. First question comes from Gunsing from Counter Finance. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Congratulations on the great set of numbers for this quarter. I see that our revenues are amongst the highest we have achieved in any of our previous quarters. In terms of margins, we see that the margin for this quarter is around 28% operating margin, whereas it was about, say, 7% for financial year 2020, around, say, on an average 15%-20% previously. Sir, my question is regarding whether this is a one-off quarter in terms of revenues as well as margin, or can we say that this is the run rate going forward and we can expect this to be a sustainable number in terms of revenues as well as the margins? Can you please help me understand whether this is one-off or a sustainable kind of a thing?
Hi, thanks for asking this. This is Anurag. We have been updating, informing you all about the various initiatives being taken at our end. Certainly, we are not seeing this as one odd, one-off quarter. This is the trend we are expecting to continue way forward.
Both in terms of top line as well as margins?
That's true.
Is it fair to assume that we can do, say, about INR 700 CR-INR 800 CR of top line for financial year 2024, looking at the current run rate?
While my earlier response was that, we have been talking about the measures and those measures are showing results, but I would like to also mention that we do not give any guidance at all, any inferences at all.
All right. Not in terms of, say, revenues, but in terms of the operating margins that we are looking at right now, I mean, was there some initiatives taken during this quarter or some fall in the, say, operation cost that we saw only during this quarter that led to this? I mean, can we say that 28% is a sustainable kind of a margin going forward? I mean, this was the highest margin that we have ever achieved in this year, I would say.
As Parag mentioned that this is also due to some cumulative effect. We have been talking about the AMC related discussions in the past. That has led to this particular thing. You are talking about the other in other aspects. We continue to take lot of optimization and improvement initiatives and that's the that is something which we like to continue as well. Again, as I mentioned that any indicative aspect on these things, we will not be able to provide.
All right, sir. Got it. If we remove the AMC effect of the cumulative that you mentioned, can we peg my, say, about 20%-25% going forward because of the initiatives that you?
I think I've answered this already a few times. You are talking about various... In fact, the guidance aspect or indications, we will not be able to definitely provide that...
Hope you appreciate this particular thing, but, as I mentioned that we continue to take multiple initiatives, and that is what I would like to update you at this point.
Shall I take the next question?
Yes, you can, Saki.
Thank you, ma'am. Next question comes from Rahul Jain from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. Am I loud and audible?
Yes, sir.
Yeah. Just to extend the thought on the current thing that you are kind of seeking for the revenue guidance, like, that are caused by this. Growth is divided by.
Hi, Rahul. Your voice is not clear. Please repeat again.
The voice is not clear.
Ma'am, he's withdrawn his question, ma'am. Next question comes from Harish Toshniwal from BottomUp Research. Please go ahead.
Hi. Hello. Thanks for the opportunity. Am I audible?
Yes, sir.
Hello. Yes. Yes. Thanks a lot, sir. I think, sir, a few questions. One is that if we look at the last Q1 and Q2 on call, you mentioned that the price hike is going to be affected for most of our clients over a period of next one to two years, basically H2 of FY 2023, and obviously some part of H 2024. The entire series is going to see a series of price hikes across different clients for us to reach the expected levels. Just want to understand that when we look at this quarter's revenue, you think that all the price hikes are now there in the number, or are there more price hikes down the line? This is my first question.
I have one more question. If you want, I can ask now or I can ask later, sir.
Dear participants, kindly stay connected while we connect the management team back on the call. Welcome back, sir. Please go ahead.
Hi. Am I audible, sir?
Yes. Please go ahead.
Yes. I had two questions. One is that in the last call we mentioned that the price hike is going to continue over the next few quarters, because it will take some time for negotiating the price hikes across most of our customers. One, I wanted to check that when we look at this quarter's revenue, is it just a partial price, a part of the price hike that for few of the customers we have taken, but we are yet to see more price hikes in the coming quarters? That's the question number one. Sir, the second question is on the growth part. We have seen a lot of NBFCs, etc., who have been growing even within India. Going forward, how do we plan to tap that volume growth?
Last call you mentioned that we are also tying up with system integrators to improve our growth rate in Europe, Southeast Asia, etc. When we look at our margin profile also, I think being a product company, our margins in India, etc., is more than 40%, 50%. It's the global business which is putting the overall margins down. Wanted to get your sense as to what is the plan to improve the operating leverage out there, and how should we look at it. These two questions.
Sure, sure. This is Brajesh Khandelwal. Your first question is regarding continued, AMC price hike. That effort is going to continue. As I precise, details will not be shared, but that effort will continue. Your second question.
Just one thing, Brajesh. Just one thing, on this part. I would not need any specific detail, but just want to understand that, for example, if we have around 200 clients, then what percentage of clients we would have initiated the price hikes with? Some sense, because the only thing which becomes confusing is that when we look at this particular quarter's revenue, I'm not asking for any guidance, but wanting some sense about that, the sustainability of this number. Are there any one-off fees or in...
I can only say that we have been pursuing with our customers to get right value for our offering and that effort will continue. I don't think I will be able to share details beyond that. That is the response to your first question. Your second question is on the increase potential on NBFC market in India. Yes, we are working with various prospects to engage them with our new product offering, so that's how it is. This is going to continue. As regards, I think you also wanted to mention about outside India. Two parts to it. One is the transformation that I had mentioned. This is Parag here.
The FinnOne customers and the FinnAxia customers, many of them are outside India. That's one part. Yes, we are making a conscious effort
now move outside India. The past two years, because of COVID, we are largely centered in India. Also, most of the growth we saw was from India, the traction, I would say. on both these fronts, whether it is our legacy customers outside of India, efforts are on to convert them onto the new platforms, as well as our reach, we are now trying to make into regions outside India. I hope that completes the three parts of your query.
Thank you, sir. Next question comes from Jatin K. From Alpha Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. Congrats for a good set of numbers, and thank you for taking my question. Sir, my question is in your opening commentary, you said that there is one time retrospective effect in the AMC. Can you please elaborate more on this item? How much is the retrospective effect and what was this amount? Why was this amount?
Okay. We will not be able to really give the split or the details that how much has been contributed by retrofit and how much has been contributed by non-retrofit related business. We would just like to reiterate that there has been an impact because of these retrofitted cases, which is part and which is just one part of this particular increase.
No, sir. Some as in if I look at your revenue, it is now INR 170 crore versus it was INR 130 crore last quarter. It's like INR 40 crore increase. Can you give some idea how much is because of AMC, how much is because of retrospective and how much is our growth from new clients? Maybe some idea, even rough idea would be helpful, sir.
I'm afraid we will not be able to give you even an indication about that.
Sir, that will keep investors in the dark, as in we have no idea how is the company been able to grow so well in this quarter. Maybe some indication, because if you look at all of the my previous participants all were trying to get some indications on that front also, sir. I'm just re-requesting you to give some indication.
What I would like to say is that, as far as the total growth is concerned, close to 50% has come from retrofit.
Sure.
I hope that gives you some-...
Yeah. That retrospective is like one time only. That will not continue.
That's right. As we indicated that this is an ongoing process. Few of the business exchanges and discussions with the customers have been concluded, which has led to this. Few of the business discussions with the customers are continuing.
Even if we take more AMC increase, that will also have this retrospective benefit even for more.
The ones which I will say discussion in progress will definitely have some retrofit impact.
Sure, sir. Would you like to comment as in, let's say if I have 100 clients, how much we have taken the AMC increase and how much are still pending?
That certainly I will not be able to share.
Sure. No worries, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question comes from Chirag Garcharia, from Ashika Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. I just first time I look your company. I have a couple of questions. We are into the business since 1990s. The industry has grown really well in India, particularly IT sector, even BFSI. Why we not participating that growth? Second, a lot of outsourcing opportunities also come in this last three3 decades, still we not, you know, meaningfully participating in it. Third, I request you to share investor presentation or something. Investor community and even analyst community can have some better idea like in which domain or in which expertise we have in IT sector. Yes, just this from my side.
Just to reiterate that we are in product organization, so we handpick the outsourcing opportunity and that we have been doing for some time, and we continue to do the same thing.
Okay. Who are our peers? If you can name any global or local.
We do not share the competitor information in these forums.
Okay, sir. What is the size of opportunity in which we are right now, in the services we are right now?
I would just like to mention that with the product capabilities we have both in retail lending and transaction banking space, we are definitely approaching some very exciting opportunities. Besides that, the quantum or an indication will not be able to share.
Okay, sir. Thank you. All the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question comes from Arun Malhotra from CapGrow Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good afternoon. Congratulations on a fantastic set of numbers. Just wanted to find out the use of excess cash which is lying on the balance sheet, because if this quarter is any indication, we are going to generate large amounts of cash in the future also, plus the commentary which you have given. Any indications on the use of cash which is lying on the balance sheet?
Thanks for raising this question. This is Vishnu R. Dusad. Our board keeps looking at the most appropriate uses of the cash that our business generates. From time to time, it has been doing buybacks and so on to make sure that there is right balancing between cash that is kept with the company and cash that is distributed with the shareholders. Our board will continue to apply its mind to the subject, and we'll come back with the results.
Sure. I just want to reiterate that the cash which is lying on the-- our balance sheet is earning only 5%, 6% of kind of return and is also bringing down the ROE and hence the valuations. If there is no acquisition or use of cash which can lead to growth for the company, I think it will be more prudent for the management and the board to distribute it to the shareholders. That would be my suggestion, which should be considered by the board.
We will certainly take it, take your suggestion to the board.
Sure. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Next question comes from Imran, Contractor Quantum Investments. Please go ahead.
Hello? Hello?
Yes, sir. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Yeah. My question is also regarding the one-time renegotiation of AMC, which came into this quarter. I think they have given an indication that the 50% of the growth has taken place because of that. Is my understanding right?
That's right. You have the right understanding.
Yeah. Yeah. Thank you very much, sir. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question comes from Vaibhav Badjatya, from Honesty and Integrity Investments. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, Swati. Thanks for providing the opportunity. On the AMC again, so, I don't want to know any numbers or any or any details which you would not like to share. This revision is this retrospective effect is for the revenue from first of April, or it is also some revisions for last year as well, which has come into this quarter? I just wanted to know that.
Okay. This is from this, whether, this financial year itself.
That's for this financial year only. Okay. Secondly, you know, obviously, we last year we faced severe margin pressure because of this employee cost increment, and that's why we have to initiate this AMC renegotiation, which is very good and it's heartening that we have been successfully doing this. In your assessment, have we been able to fully pass on that cost that we which we saw a very sharp increase in FY 2022 in terms of per employee cost? Have we been able to fully transfer it or you think that still there's a long way to go in terms of whether our AMC contract will come back to the similar profitability as they were before March 2022?
Just wanted to clarify that these two things had happened together, but they are not linked. Our initiatives to increase the CMB for our associates was in response to appreciate their knowledge and contribution. At the same time, our discussions with our customers for increasing the pricing is related to we asking our customers for value-based pricing. In fact, all of our customers are growing tremendously on our platform, and our discussions with them had been happening for some time about value-based pricing, and this was result of that.
Okay. Yeah, I understand that those two might be unrelated or unrelated things completely. On a net basis, you know, one is a cost and one is price. On a net basis, do you think on the AMC contract on the profitability front, again, I don't want to know the numbers. It's, you know, what is the margin that we are earning on AMC contract and all of those things. Do you think that we will be back to similar kind of profitability in AMC contract as we were before 2022 financial year or there is still some time to achieve that?
We are back there, and we will be continuing like this. That's going to be my response.
Okay. Okay, that's it from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question comes from Arishit from DU Research. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. Sir, my question was that you mentioned two statements. One, you said that this quarter is a sustainable one at some point of time that, the revenue and it's going to be a recurring event of price hikes and maintaining this margin, what you said. At the same point of time, you said that 50% of this quarter's incremental revenue was because of renegotiation. My question is that if I adjust that renegotiation, then our sales would be more around INR 155 crore and profit around INR 30-35 crore of operating profit. Should we take that as a sustainable base and build for and basically look at it, or do you think that there are further price hikes which will help us support even the current year's momentum, current business momentum?
Just wanted to clear because your statements were slightly different in terms of what it can mean.
My response would be that we are putting and we will be putting all the efforts to ensure the sustained growth. That is what I would like to tell you. I will not be able to give any indicative expenses to you at this point as well.
Okay. No, when you say sustained growth, you mean pricing or you mean volume? I mean, if it's a sustained growth in terms of this quarter had a renegotiation advantage, X of that advantage or on the base of this quarter itself.
The first thing is that this is going to be both on the pricing as well as the volume. The second thing is that I just mentioned that we are having the discussions... There's a disturbance from your side, Nikhil, sir. Hello?
Sorry. Yeah.
Yeah. What I'm saying is that it's on the both accounts. It's basically on the pricing as well as on the volume as well. I would like to also add that, as I mentioned that we have concluded few discussions with customers, and we will be having some more discussions further on the same pricing-related discussions. That's going to continue. Of course, we are going to different geographies, so that impact will also be clear in quarters to come.
Understood, sir. Sir, when we look at this quarter, our India business has done very well. We have grown from INR 60 crore-INR 85 crore top line in India business. Most of the other geographies has been largely flat. Probably margin have also been flat. This price increase part and the volume growth, if you can throw some color on what is happening in the global geographies, some color on our strategy to tie up with system integrators to penetrate that or how do you look at that piece of business?
You are very right that the current quarter's growth is predominantly because of India market linked growth. We were putting down, we are laying down various strategies to expand into, expand our presence in other geographies as well. We are hopeful that we should be able to really expand the business in those geographies also in quarters to come.
Okay. One last question, sir, from my side. We completed the buyback last one on 22nd Feb 2022, around February 22, if I'm not wrong. I think one year is the. I just wanted to check that what is the SEBI restriction of the time gap between two buybacks? I mean, what is the timeline before which we can't think of a buyback?
Sir, this is Poonam. Actually, the restriction is 12 months. Before 12 months.
Yeah.
We cannot initiate the second buyback.
Okay. That 12 months will end on February 2023 itself?
Yes, yes.
Understood. Just one thing, I think this buyback was actually very helpful. I'm not saying obviously we need to keep some cash on our balance sheet because of the nature of the work and the same term for any inorganic opportunities. This INR 150-200 crore of annual buyback, which at least is going to keep our balance sheet healthy, would suggest that if board can consider that, because that is a very healthy indication of the management and company wanting to share the benefits with all the shareholders.
Certainly we will take this suggestion to the board.
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question comes from Samarth Singh from TPS. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity. My first question is, again, about the AMC pricing revision. I think you were looking to get 8 large customers onboarded with the, with the new AMC pricing. I think as of second quarter, 3 of them had come on board. Could you just tell me as of the end of the third quarter, how many customers have come on board out of the 7 or 8 that we were trying to get revised pricing from? Hello?
Hello, sir.
Yeah. We will not be able to really give this insight as well about the number of customers.
Okay. supplementary to say that for the revenue for 9 months, is it reflecting all the price hikes that you wanted to get done this year or, you know, we will expect some sort of one-time revenue in Q4 as well?
As I shared that there are some discussions going on with our customers. Some have been concluded, some are still going on, so definitely we are hopeful to conclude those discussions in the next quarter. If that happens, then definitely there will be a retrofit impact coming for those discussions as well, those conclusions as well.
Just to clarify, the next quarter being the current quarter 4, or you're talking about quarter 1 of next year?
Yeah. The current. The Q4.
Q4. Okay. Is our order book reflecting the new pricing, the revised AMC? Because the order book does not seem to have moved that much.
The order book includes the new AMC increase. it includes.
Okay. Are we, I mean, are we losing orders from some other, from the other geographies? I think there was a total increase of only INR 10 crores in the order book, if I'm not mistaken.
The basically order booking number is inclusive of both AMCs as well as non-AMC related new orders being booked in.
Right. Right. Okay. Okay. you know, how many of our top 10 customers are now on FinnOne Neo?
We actually do not provide product-wise customer details. We'll not be able to share these inputs as well.
Okay, let me ask the question in a different way. We are working on two objectives mainly for this year and next year. One was getting the price revision so that our pricing correctly reflects the value we provide to our customers. The second one was changing the composition of the product, which is sort of moving our customers from the legacy product to FinnOne Neo. In the last quarter, I think Visheshwara mentioned that, you know, two or three customers were of a large customer move to FinnOne Neo, and there'll be a big push this year. If not quantitatively, could you talk about it qualitatively in the terms of how we are doing in the second aspect of converting our customers to FinnOne Neo?
The FinnOne customers movement to FinnOne Neo customer, which we call transformation initiatives, are progressing well. They are progressing well, and they are as per the plans.
Okay. The last question from my side. I think in the other geographies, which is Southeast Asia, you know, Far East, Middle East, we've seen some recovery, but it's still trending below, you know, pre-pandemic levels. I think the issue we had, you know, immigration and attrition, I think both those issues-
Your voice is cracking. I couldn't really hear you.
Am I audible now?
This is better.
Yes. I was saying apart... talking about the other geography, Southeast Asia, Far East, Middle East, we've seen some recovery, but we're still trending below pre-pandemic levels. I think our issue we had highlighted the last couple of calls was issue of immigration and attrition. I think both those issues have been sorted now. Is there a reason why we are not back up to, you know, historical revenue and profit levels in these geographies?
While both the constraints have been... they are settled now. Immigration is also has completely opened up, and the attrition related challenges also got settled. What we are currently doing is that there had been... Because of these two factors, the implementation progression and all these three are definitely impacted. They are being brought to the control now. With these two enablers being there, we expect the things to move much faster in the current quarter as well as next quarter.
Okay.
There is always a cascading impact. The immigration has been tackled. The attrition related things have opened those things. The transformation projects are getting in shape now. Once these are settled next quarter or this quarter onwards, the things will start showing the reflections.
As part of this also, I think in the Far East we've done multiple FinnOne cloud, FinnOne Neo cloud implementations. Is a part of that also that, you know, on the cloud platform with the implementation fee is lower, but we earn a higher recurring revenue? Is that a part of this lower revenue in the Far East as well?
In the Far East, we have predominantly our services customers, not. Yes, they are few of them are on the cloud, but definitely not all of them. It's not related to that. It's basically related to some of the local business developments there. Of course, as I mentioned, that it takes some time for customers also to restart the engine. Far East has been blocked by immigration perspective for close to 2 years. Things have started opening up, and it's going to take its own group and time before the things start becoming to the normal.
The trends are reversing, as I mentioned that, you will be getting a, you will be seeing a different type of improvement coming up being reflected in the current and next quarters, what I mentioned.
Okay, thanks.
Welcome back.
Thank you. Next question comes from Rahul Jain from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. Firstly, two bookkeeping. Number one, what is the USD revenue you said for the quarter, and what was the employee count?
Hello?
Yes.
Am I audible?
Yes, you are.
Okay. Revenue number was $21 million for the quarter and $16.6 million quarter-on-quarter and $16.3 million year-on-year. This was the revenue number.
Right. Employee?
Yeah, as for the headcount, the headcount was 1,731.
Okay. Now, my question is that even if we see the outside the AMC revenue, the jump is quite significant, close to 15%. Was it led by faster ramp-up of some past deals that were affected by attrition, thing, which we still have, or this is a general business, traction that we have?
This is general business traction. That's the thing.
This headcount number is still significantly lower than what we used to have, let's say, 8, 10 quarters back. Is there a reason why we would like to operate at this level, or this is a net outcome why we want to have a much higher headcount number?
Actually, last year, we have invested significantly by in onboarding young talent, young minds. We continue to do the same this time. In addition to that, we are also working on the productivity improvements at our end. These two things going in hand in hand, we are talking about onboarding young talent in addition to productivity measures.
Right. Right. So you're trying to say this 1,730 number is an ideal number for the current business level, and as the business grow, we may have some headcount growth?
That is right. That is right.
Yeah. Just to clarify on the retrospective effect on the number, are we trying to say that there's a retrospective quantum which is taken as a lump sum for past period or the current AMC revenue that we might have booked during the quarter is the normalized run rate from a go-forward basis?
There is a cumulative impact, for sure.
Okay. You mean to say if somebody was revised from five rupees to 10 rupees, that additional five rupees for one full year is also accounted in this quarter, and now going forward, he would be booked as two and a half rupees on a run rate basis?
That's right. That's right.
Okay. Half of the quantum of growth, give or take, is coming from this factor. The number, the quarterly run rate should be seen by adjusting that INR 20 odd crores from the current revenue.
Yes, that will be the case. That's right.
Accordingly, the profit, the PBT aspect should also be reduced by that quantum because there may not be any associated cost attached to it as well.
Yeah. That's right. Your understanding is right.
Right. I understand that you're not going to say about the number of such pursuit, but since you already have, I think last quarter you mentioned that there are two to three clients which are in this process of acceptance, and they might have gone through this process during this quarter, maybe a few more. Now since you have people accepting it, how it changes in terms of your convertibility aspect going forward, because now you have, you know, reference, you know, people who have adopted to the new run rate. Does that increase your ability to convert on this factor significantly?
That is right. More than the having some customers being converted on a different price is not the major driver. The major driver is that we are leveraging the reference ability of the business value being delivered to the customers.
Right.
I hope that answered.
Yeah, I'm sure. That was the case earlier also before you were pushing this aspect much more strongly. It's just that, you know, people are happy to get more for less, and that's what was the case in the past. Just to, if you could share one or two, you know, comment that might have come from this successful cases where they accepted for the revised pricing, what they have to say on this. Are they? They just realized that, okay, yes, it's worth more and that's why they are giving it or any incidents worth sharing on this front.
There had been a mixed response. A few customers' response is already there in your question itself when you mentioned that they were getting more in less. Few of them had responded in that fashion. Few of them, the response was much, much more pragmatic. Overall, all of them had understood the rationale and the approach depending upon their outlook. In few cases, we could progress much faster. In few cases, it has taken longer time. Eventually every one of them had appreciated this and got themselves aligned with this.
Last bit from my side. Just to understand who would qualify for this kind of a revision. Is it the entire client base, or we can say that a client with a material history, let's say any client who would have come to us, let's say five years or prior or 10 years or prior would have been at a very poor base? Those are the cases where we see a hope of a big revision while it may not be relevant for, you know, a client with five years, six years vintage.
Of course, we are not going to the customers whom we have signed up or rather whom we have onboarded very recently. In addition to that, we have a very comprehensive assessment process. We run our customer portfolio through that comprehensive assessment process, and that gives us, the customers with whom we should be taking it forward. Of course, the longevity of the customer, the time, at which the initial contract was signed, their growth, all these things are part and parcel of that, comprehensive assessment process. The overall process is much beyond that.
Right. Have you seen case of, client attrition also?
Not really. Not really.
Okay. Either they are negotiating, they are delaying or accepting, but there's no, let go.
That's right.
Okay. Thank you. That's it from my side. Best of luck for the time ahead.
Thank you so much.
Thank you. That would be the last question for the day. Now I hand over the floor to Swati for final remarks.
Thank you, Felicia. Now, we would like to thank all the investors for joining us today for this call. I now pass over to Vishnu, sir, for his closing comments. Over to you, sir.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued interest in Nucleus Software. We reiterate our commitment to deliver value to all our stakeholders in decades to come. Thank you so very much.
Thank you. That concludes our conference for today. Thank you for your participation. You may all disconnect now.