Ladies and gentlemen, good day. Welcome to the Crizac Limited Q1 FY 2027 Earnings Conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in listen only mode. There will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance in the conference, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Niharikaa from Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers Limited. Thank you. Over to you, ma'am.
Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Crizac Q1 FY 2027 Earnings Conference call. We have with us Dr. Vikash Agarwal, the Managing Director of the company; Mr. Manish Agarwal, the Chief Financial Officer of the company, Mr. Christopher, the Chairman of the company, and Mr. Sanjeev Sancheti, the IR Advisor of the company. Sanjeev, sir, if you can start by giving your overview on the first quarter FY 2027 performance and beyond. After which we can open up for Q&A. Over to you, Sanjeev, sir.
Thank you. Good evening to all the participants. Before I hand over the call to Dr. Vikash Agarwal for the opening remarks, I would like to draw your attention to the safe harbor statement in the investor presentation. I request each one of you to go through the presentation thoroughly before the Q&A starts that you are aware of the safe harbor statement. Thank you. Over to you, Dr. Vikash.
Thank you, Sanjeev. Good evening, everyone. A very warm welcome to the Q1 FY 2027 earnings call of Crizac Limited. For those who are new to our story, Crizac Limited is one of India's leading B2B AI-native student mobility platform. Since our founding in Kolkata in 2011, we have connected students, counseling partners, universities across international markets.
Today, our proprietary technology-led platform connects more than 17,000 counseling partners with over 450 university partners across 12 destination markets and more than 85 source markets. To date, we have facilitated over INR 12 lakh student applications, including INR 1.04 lakh applications processed during this quarter alone. Our platform forms the operating backbone of our business with network effect that strengthens as we add more counseling partners, students, university partners to our platform. Q1 FY 2027 demonstrated a resilience of our AI platform model.
Revenue from operation for the current quarter stood at INR 2,012 million, representing a decline of 4% year-on-year. This decline reflects a less favorable mix of university partners this quarter rather than any reduction in our ability underlying platform activities. Subsequently, revenue was lower than the INR 3,917 million reported in quarter four of FY 2026, in line with the pronounced seasonality of our business, with the quarter four being our peak intake quarter and quarter one being the seasonal trough.
On the operations front, application process moderated by 6.2% year-on-year to INR 1.04 lakh for the quarter. Nevertheless, our underlying network continued to expand with our active counseling partners base increased by 1.2% year-on-year basis to 4,032, and student enrollment growth growing by 15% year-on-year to 4,751, reflecting the disciplined quality-led approach maintained by both Crizac and our university partners and more demanding operating environment.
Importantly, we continue to gain market share despite a challenging operating environment. In the U.K., our largest destination market, our share of total student visa granted increased from 3.5% in FY 2024 to 6% in FY 2026. From the same period, our share for U.S. study visa granted to Indian students rose even more significantly from 9% to 13.9%.
This consistent market share gain reflects the growing trust that university and counseling partners place in Crizac as a reliable, compliant, and preferred global education platform. We also continued our acquisition-led approach to strengthen and secure future growth. In June 2026, we made a strategic investment in ForeignAdmits, extending our capabilities to education financing and visa preparation. Its founder, Mr. Nikhil Jain, has joined us as Chief Product and Marketing Officer.
This investment supports our ambition to build a full stack AI-enabled ecosystem by expanding into adjacent services along our core student recruitment business. Subsequently, in quarter end in July 2026, we acquired 100% of Inova Consultancy Limited through our wholly owned U.K. subsidiary. This acquisition strengthened our U.K. partnership across U.K. and Europe, and extend our presence in Mexico and mark our entry into a new destination market, Netherlands.
Inova Founder, Mr. Eric Wijmenga, joined us as Regional Director, U.K. and Europe, bringing more than 25 years of experience and strong institutional relationships across England and a wider European region. As Eric takes on operational leadership of our U.K. and European business, I would also like to share an important development in our leadership structure. Mr. Christopher Nagle, who has led the group U.K. entity as Chief Executive Officer, will step down from his executive role.
He will, however, continue to serve as a Director on the Board of the U.K. entity and assume the role of Non-Executive Director and Chairman of Crizac Limited, our Indian holding company. In this capacity, he will provide strategic oversight, instilling governance, and mentor the leadership team at Board level. I would also like to emphasize that this represents a change in the nature of Christopher's involvement with Crizac rather than departure from the group.
He will remain actively engaged at Board level, providing strategic oversight, instilling governance, and offering guidance to our global business while day-to-day operational responsibility will continue to rest with Managing Director, the executive management team. Eric's appointment will ensure a seamless transition and continuity in our university relationships.
Together, these changes will retain valuable institutional knowledge, reinforce our governance framework, and strengthen our executive leadership as we position the group for its next phase of growth. We are also investing in the people and infrastructure required to strengthen our technology and AI capabilities. While these investments involve some upfront costs, we expect the benefit to accrue progressively as the capabilities mature and scale across our operations.
Our strategic direction is centered on building an integrated technology-enabled global mobility ecosystem across three interconnected dimensions. Greater geographical diversification across both source and destination markets, an expanded suite of end-to-end services including accommodation, student loan, visa, insurance, and foreign exchange. Inorganic acceleration through targeted acquisitions and partnerships that extend our reach and deepen our service capabilities. Looking ahead, we remain confident in our long-term structural demand for international education.
At the same time, we remain mindful of the near-term external environment, including evolving visa policies, currency movement, and geopolitical development across the key markets. We continue to navigate these conditions and disciplines while investing in the capabilities, partnership, and market presence required to create sustainable long-term growth. With that, I will now hand over to Mr. Christopher Nagle, who will share his perspective on the leadership transition and global industry environment and Crizac competitive positioning. Over to you, Chris.
Thank you very much, Vikash, and hello to everyone on the call. Let me begin with a few words on my transition. My decision to step down as CEO of our U.K. entity while continuing to serve on its Board and taking on the role of non-executive director and chairman of Crizac Limited reflects the natural next step as Eric assumes operational leadership of our U.K. and European business, ensuring leadership continuity and preserving institutional knowledge as the group enters its next phase of growth.
I would like to emphasize that my belief in Crizac and my commitment to its long-term success remain as strong as ever. Over the years, I've had the privilege of seeing Crizac develop into one of the most respected platforms in global student mobility, and I'm delighted to continue supporting its journey at the Board level.
I'm also very pleased that Eric Wijmenga will assume operational leadership of our U.K. and European business. Eric brings a deep understanding of the U.K. university landscape and long-standing institutional relationships. I have every confidence that the business and our university partnerships will be in excellent hands, ensuring continuity as I transition to my new role.
I look forward to providing strategic oversight to the executive team as Crizac embarks on its next phase of growth. Let me now turn to the global student mobility landscape. This has been a particularly eventful few months for our sector, with the pace of policy change accelerating across several major destinations. I want to spend a moment on what is driving it and importantly, what it means for a platform like ours. Visa policy evolution has been the most prominent headwind.
Across several major destination markets, immigration and study visa frameworks have tightened, causing visible shifts in student flow patterns globally. In the U.S., in particular, a more restrictive visa environment, including tighter scrutiny, processing delays, and greater uncertainty for international students, has weighed on demand for that destination. In the U.K., our largest destination market, the shortening of the graduate route, higher maintenance thresholds, and stricter compliance standards for sponsoring institutions have raised the bar on application quality.
Importantly, this tightening in the U.S. and elsewhere is redirecting demand towards markets such as Ireland, Germany, and New Zealand, where structured compliant recruitment is increasingly valued. Crizac, given our strong presence in the U.K. and our expanding New Zealand and Ireland capabilities, is structurally well-placed to benefit from this redistribution of demand. Beyond visa policy, currency dynamics have added to the cost burden for students from emerging source markets.
The continued strength of both the U.S. dollar and the pound sterling increases the effective cost of education in those markets, which can affect conversion timelines and student decision-making. Our multi-geography sourcing model provides a natural hedge against single-market concentration risk. Geopolitical uncertainty in certain regions also continues to influence student confidence and family decision-making.
We are cognizant of this, our counseling partner network, spanning 85 source countries with on-ground presence in 11 countries, gives us early-cycle visibility into sentiment shifts and demand patterns in ways that purely digital or lighter-touch platforms cannot replicate. Against this backdrop, let me explain why we remain confident that these structural tailwinds will extend beyond the near-term uncertainty. I would frame it slightly differently this quarter by focusing on what the current environment increasingly rewards.
As compliance and quality become central to universities' choice of recruitment partners, scale, trust, and execution capabilities have emerged as key differentiators. Our platform brings together more than 17,400 counseling partners and over 450 university relationships, with several of our leading partnerships extending beyond five years.
This combination of reach and long-standing institutional relationships positions us as a trusted partner for universities seeking compliant, high-quality applications with strong conversion outcomes. As Dr. Vikash highlighted earlier, this is reflected in the continued growth of our share in the U.K. market. Equally important is that we are no longer a single corridor story.
While the U.K. remains our anchor, our reach now extends across New Zealand, Ireland, the Netherlands, UAE, U.S., Australia, Canada, and Singapore, sourced from more than 85 countries, our recent moves, Studies Planet in Latin America, Global Tree Careers Private Limited in India, Medway in New Zealand, and now Inova in Europe, are steadily rebalancing that mix. In an environment where student flows are constantly evolving, the breadth of our network gives us more than just diversification.
It gives us resilience. As demand shifts across source and destination markets, our presence across the global education ecosystem allows us to capture opportunities wherever they emerge. Technology plays a central role in making this possible. The AI capabilities we are developing in-house are helping us match students with the right institutions more accurately and efficiently.
Ultimately, the ability to consistently make the right match will be a key differentiator for successful platforms in our industry. While the external environment is undeniably complex, the demand for quality international education remains intact. The regulatory shift is on balance, working in our favor, Crizac's combination of scale, trust, geographic breadth, and technology leaves us well-placed to convert this period of disruption into durable share gains. I will now hand over to Manish for the financial commentary.
Thank you, Chris. Good afternoon, everyone. As we have already spoken on revenue performance, I will focus on the remaining element of our financial performance. EBITDA for Q1 FY 2027 stood at INR 600 million, representing a decline of approximately 7.6% year-on-year from INR 649 million in Q1 FY 2026. EBITDA margin was 29.8% compared to 31% in Q1 FY 2026.
The year-on-year moderation was primarily due to our deliberate step in our cost base to support team build-out following our ongoing expansion, including the investment we are making in technology, AI, and talent to position the business for the next phase of growth. Sequentially, EBITDA margin expanded by 585 basis points from 24% in Q4 FY 2026 to 29.8% in current quarter, driven by the favorable remuneration economics carried by the Q1 intake.
While our technology and talent investment involves upfront cost, we expect the benefit to emerge progressively as the capability matures and scale our operations. PAT for Q1 FY 2027 stood at INR 471 million, a year-on-year growth of 2.9%, with PAT margin expanding by 152 basis points to 22.6%. Underscoring the scalability and capital efficiency of our operating model, even in a seasonally lighter and externally challenging quarter.
I'm pleased to report that Crizac remains debt-free with a healthy net cash position of INR 5,695 million. Our capital efficiency continue to be the key strength, with ROE of 28.8% and ROCE of 40.3%, reflecting the asset-light nature of our operating model. Our operating cash generation remains strong, affirming that our reported profit are backed by real cash generation. A hallmark of disciplined, high-quality business we continue to build.
On the outlook, the global operating environment continue to evolve, shaped by the visa policy framework, currency movement, and recent geopolitical development. In particular, international travel disruption and widespread flight cancellation between February and June are expected to impact our Q2 performance. However, as mobility normalize and based on our current application flow, we anticipate a recovery across quarter three and quarter four.
Taking all these factor in account, our full year performance for FY 2027 is expected to remain broadly in line with FY 2026 levels. We consider this outlook to be appropriately measured and will revisit it as the visibility improve over the coming quarters regarding the student flow, conversion rate, and our revenue profile.
What I can say with confidence is structural demand for international education remain intact, our platform is in scaling, our balance sheet is strong, our inorganic pipeline is active. We remain constructively optimistic about the medium term opportunity. With this, I hand over back to the operator to open the floor for question. Thank you.
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to withdraw yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handset while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question comes from the line of Disha with Sapphire Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello.
Hi.
Am I audible, sir?
Yes.
Yes. Thank you so much, sir, for this opportunity. Couple of questions. Firstly, sir, on a QoQ basis, I understand the decline in revenues on a sequential basis, I think we've also de-grown. You alluded to some unfavorable mix. If you could just elaborate a bit more on that.
Hi, Disha.
Yes.
Yes. In a constant currency term, we have had a de-growth about 4%. Which is more because our volume has gone up by 15%, but the university mix has changed. As a result, we have missed couple of bonuses and couple of slabs for our top-ranked universities, which has resulted in a lower revenue per student.
Okay. Sir, even your opening comments, I think you were mentioning Q2 also we're seeing some challenges. Can you just elaborate a bit more on that?
Sure. Disha, as you must be aware, between the war which is happening in Iran and Middle East.
Right
between February and June, lot of flights got canceled. There was a very heavy fluctuation in rupee movement, which has affected the students who wanted to travel for April, May, and June intake. That, we believe, would impact the overall performance for quarter two.
Okay. On an overall basis for FY 2027, we're expecting somewhat a 20%-25% sort of growth.
No. On an overall level for FY 2027, we expect it to be in the same line as last year.
Reason being-
So that-
First two quarters got impacted. There will definitely be a pent-up demand in quarter three and quarter four, which would kind of make the overall year's performance same as last year.
Okay. It'll be a flattish sort of. Okay, understood. Sir, what should be the key geographies that you're seeing the most traction in? Also you've acquired Inova Consultancy. Could you just elaborate a bit more on what sort of synergies are we seeing? When will the integration happen and the margin profile there?
With reference to Inova Consultancy, the reason for acquisition was Inova has a very strong foothold in Mexico. At the same time, they had a lot of universities licensed to recruit from Netherlands. This acquisition will help us recruit more students from Mexico, which will be our source country, and also help us place our students globally through Netherlands as our destination country. It will be expansion of both source and destination because of this acquisition.
When do we expect the acquisition to complete and the integration to begin, and what sort of margin profiles do we see for this company?
Sure. With reference to integration, it's ongoing integration, which is happening at the moment. With reference to margin expansion profile, it's a very small acquisition of less than INR 7 crore. There won't be a huge impact, a direct impact because of this acquisition, but there will be a big indirect impact because we'll be able to place students from our ecosystem to Netherlands.
Sir, on the EBITDA margin front on a blended basis, it will be in the range of what we have done previously, 25%-27%?
Sorry, can you repeat your question?
Yeah. The EBITDA margins for the entire year will be in the same range as what we have done previously, 25%-27%?
Yes. Will be in the same range.
Okay. Yeah, that is it, sir. I'll get back in the queue. Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question comes from the line of Shivam Gupta with Trinetra Asset Managers. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Am I audible?
Yes, Shivam.
Yeah. Application processed declined by 6% while enrollment increased by 15%. How much of the Q1 enrollment came from the application processed in earlier quarters?
Shivam, the application processing is an ongoing process. There are students who process for one intake, and they might defer it to a later intake. A lot of our application processing Q4 and Q1 got deferred to, let's say, Q3, September 26 intake.
Okay.
It's very difficult to say how many applications actually get converted. On a general basis, we have seen we have got a conversion rate of 10% of all the unique applicants who apply through us in this quarter.
Okay, sir. Second thing, despite having a full quarter contribution from Global Tree and the other acquired business, consolidated revenue declined by 4%. Could you share the organic revenue growth and the contribution from acquired companies separately?
The revenue from all the acquired companies around?
Yes.
It's around INR 6 crore.
Okay. That's it from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Madhur Rathi with Counter Cyclical Investments. Please go ahead.
Sir, firstly, I am not able to understand for FY 2027 full year in terms of revenue, what kind of ballpark growth are we expecting? Or are we expecting it to be a flat year revenue-wise?
We expect it to be a flattish year.
Sir, if I remember correctly, in the fourth quarter, you had mentioned something like 15%-17% year-on-year growth in FY 2027. Has anything changed between Q4 and now?
Yes. If you remember correctly, we have not given any guidance because we were not sure how the geopolitical things will play. We have a decent idea how the Q1 number is, how the Q2 number is looking. Even incorporating the pent-up demand, we feel we will end up in a similar line as of last year. We have now a better visibility.
Understood. Sir, again, if we look at till last quarter, that is Q4 of FY 2026, our consol PBT used to be significantly higher than the standalone. For example, in the fourth quarter of last year, consol PBT was INR 92 crore and standalone was INR 50 crore. In this quarter, which I believe is the first quarter wherein our standalone PBT is roughly INR 70 crore and the consol PBT is less than INR 65 crore. Basically, the recently acquired companies, what loss have they made in the first quarter?
No, it's not like that. The Crizac India entity, just on a standalone basis, has got few payments as a revenue, which has increased its profitability compared to overall consolidated basis. We have invested lot of money in Crizac U.K. an d our subsidiaries, for which we are expecting the effect to come in Q3.
Understood. Sir, again, if we look at in FY 2026, the volume growth was 14%, which is the number of student enrollments increased by 14%. Sir, has anything really changed in FY 2027, which was not there in FY 2026, in the sense that have visa regulations, etc., have they been further tightened or is it what it was like last year?
Definitely there is a change in visa regulations and other immigration rules. This has not impacted the revenue per student. The university mix of students who want to go into quarter one has changed compared to last year.
Some of the universities where fees were much higher and revenue per student was higher, this quarter our students went to a different set of universities where fees were comparatively lower. As a result, revenue per student was lower. There can be multiple reasons for this one, including a change in exchange rate, which would have made students to pick a much less expensive university.
Understood. Sir, in your investor presentation, it shows that how over the period of time what acquisitions you have made and which countries you have entered. Way back, if I remember correctly, in FY 2016 itself, we had entered Canada and then other countries. What exactly is the reason why we have been so successful in U.K. and not as successful in other English-speaking countries? I believe in your investor presentation, page number six, it shows the journey of Crizac. What exactly worked for us in U.K., and can we really replicate that success in the other English-speaking markets?
Definitely. The reason why we are most successful in U.K. is because of our history and network effect. Crizac started with U.K. as a destination. As a result, we could acquire or get more and more universities where we could recruit students. Company had been known and growing for U.K. as a destination, since its inception.
We can replicate the same with other countries as well. Today, we are one of the biggest recruiter for Ireland. We have replicated that. Recently, the acquisition of New Zealand, we believe, would make us one of the biggest recruiter for New Zealand, starting from India, but eventually across the globe. Other countries will take a bit of time because of incumbent play in those countries.
Three years back, we planned to expand our footprint into USA. Unfortunately because of change in leadership at government level in USA and the change of immigration and visa rules, that could not be materialized. Once the policy gets changed, that should again create a very strong opportunity for Crizac to expand its recruitment into USA.
Understood. Sir, if we see our per student revenue that we are making. In FY 2024, we made around INR 3.55 lakh per student revenue, which in FY 2026 increased to INR 4 lakh, and in Q1, it seems to have increased to INR 4.2 lakh per student. I'm just dividing the revenue number by the number of enrollments.
Sir, if we see during this period, basically since FY 2024 till Q1 FY 2027, our realization per student has increased by 18%, but the GBP itself has appreciated by 22% during this period. Basically, has there been a realization de-growth, like for one student, if two years back, if the same university for the same course was paying us X, now today, is it paying us X minus something?
No, in terms of universities' payment, that has been same. It's just a year-over-year basis or quarter-over-quarter basis. University mix of students which they want to go has changed. Say, for example, if a student wants to go to a university where the fees is very high at particular quarter, the revenue per student will be very high for that university. While for a university where the fees is low, your revenue will be lower. It's only the change in university mix which has changed, and not a realization from all those individual universities.
Understood. Sir, another issue is that our stock is trading at around 11x EBITDA. Any plans to do a share buyback?
Currently, we have a float of 20% in the market.
Which the SEBI doesn't allow.
It does not allow us to do a buyback at this level.
Sir, what can be done, company can do a share buyback at the current market price. Since there'll be no incentive for the other shareholders to tender, promoters can tender and reduce their shareholding to less than 75%. Sir, the earnings per share will also increase. The future growth will get divided on a smaller equity base.
Sure. We'll talk to our compliance team on this one and can look into this solution.
Sir, my last issue is that, sir, now out of 110 universities which we have partnered with, three universities alone contribute 41% of the revenue. Sir, basically, what is it that we are offering those three universities and wherein they have really scaled up their business with us, whereas the other universities, it seems they are just like we are barely enrolled with them, but hardly any revenue seems to be coming from them. What has worked with, let's say, the top three to top 10 universities, and what will it take for us to replicate the same success with other universities?
Hi. The 41% of top three university which you are seeing is only for quarter one. Quarter ones include April, May, and June, where you don't have traditional universities. Very few modern universities have the intakes. Overall, you have around 10, 15 universities only. That's why this concentration is looking high. If you see on a full year basis, that will give you a different picture.
Even so, instead of 41%, three universities contributing, even if it is, let's say, lower than that, and sir, point remains that top 10 are contributing, let's say, 60%-70% of the revenue for the full year. Now the issue is that what exactly worked for us with these 10 universities, and what will it take for us to replicate the same success with the other 100 universities that we have tie-up with, but it seems the scale-up is not happening.
Sure. With these top 10 universities, which changes every year, we have a much deep strategic tie-up with them, which includes a defined SLA, quick offer turnaround, and a lot of other events which we do with them. We are trying to replicate the same with other remaining universities as well. These negotiations take time, and it's multi-year process.
As and when a university agrees to go on a strategic relationship with our company, the share of those ones increases. That's why you would see that on a year-on-year basis, our concentration of revenue per top 10 universities is declining, not because numbers are declining, but the numbers from remaining 90 are going up.
Sir, just one question.
I am sorry to interrupt. Mr. Madhur, I would request you to please come back in the queue for further questions. Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Vanshika with Equitas Capital. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir. My first question was that despite so many acquisitions, our U.K. concentration from the last five to 10 years still remains very high at around 97%. You said in the last call that we will reduce this share in the next two, three years to 60%. What exactly are we aiming for? How will we achieve this?
It is still our objective to reduce our U.K. concentration, and that is one of the reason why we acquired Inova Consultancy. Now we can recruit students to Netherlands. Likewise, we are working for all the other jurisdictions where we can increase our numbers. It will take some time, especially these shifts in geopolitical and immigration policies. We are navigating through that, and we still believe that eventually will bring down our numbers concentration from U.K. lower. As said, we also acquired.
What is the timeline?
We still believe if things goes as per our forecast, within next three years, we should be able to reduce our U.K. concentration to less than 60%.
Okay. sir, my next question was that we recently acquired ForeignAdmits for accommodation and Forex loan services. We have also ventured into immigration and education financing and visa preparation.
That's true. ForeignAdmits helped us.
We have also ventured into accommodation and Forex loan and all that, ancillary services. Are we looking at these services as a significant proportion of our revenue going forward?
Not at initial stage. We still need to scale it up. With the acquisition of ForeignAdmits, this will accelerate the process. We have got all the tie-ups and other things required, including key people who understand this process better. We believe our distribution network will become more strong, and over the next couple of years, this should help us increase our both at revenue and EBITDA levels.
Sir, like what percentage, if we could give a ballpark number?
Yeah. We believe because of this value-added services, the EBITDA would go up between 2%-5%.
What percentage of revenue would they form? What are the expectations?
Okay percentage of revenue, just hold on.
Sorry, sir. I couldn't hear you.
Just a moment. At approx one, 1.5% of revenue.
Okay, sir. Sir, my next question was that we are targeting inorganic growth, and we have planned for many acquisitions. What is the strategy for those acquisitions? Like, it is given the geographic diversification or talent acquisition, but still, what would be our strategy for those?
It's a combination of both. We are looking at talent acquisition. That was the case with Edument, for example. At the same time, it's also acquisition of either new source market or destination market. Example, we acquired Medway because it opened up a new destination market, New Zealand, for us.
Yes, sir. Like you acquired that, but how will we grow from there in those markets? If there is any strategy that we have in mind.
Yes. If I talk about New Zealand, we did not have much of the ties with universities where we could place our students. With this acquisition, now we can place all our students across the globe where we recruit to New Zealand if they want to go to New Zealand.
Oh, okay. Okay, sir. Sir, my next question was.
Likewise, this acquisition also help us open new source market. For example, now we can recruit students from Mexico and can place them into U.K., New Zealand, or any other destinations where they want to go.
Yes, sir. Okay. Sir, my next question was that with the kind of de-globalization we are seeing in the U.S., are we expecting some of this same de-globalization in U.K. as well? Because it could highly impact our business.
Yes, you are right. There is impact which we are seeing across the globe, and the only way by which we can prevent that is by diversifying into new source and destination markets, and we are already working on that.
Yeah. Sir, my last question was that we paid a very high dividend last year. Was it a one-time thing, or will it be a steady state?
No, it's a steady state. We have declared in our RHP that we'll be paying minimum of 40% of-
Yes
PAT of that year as a dividend to our shareholder.
Okay.
That will run for at least minimum of three years. One year is already done, minimum next two years, we are committed to pay 40% dividend.
Okay, sir. That's all from my side. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Participants, you are requested to limit your questions to two per participant. The next question comes from the line of [Prateek Jha] with Monarch PMS. Please go ahead.
Hi. I wanted to understand what is the primary reason students choose to study at Crizac partner universities in the U.K. Is it mainly for education and then returning back to India or whatever country they are from, or students see it as a pathway to work and eventually settle in the U.K., for example, it is in the case of Canada. Also, do you guys track how many students stay back after completing their course in U.K. and in those countries, and of those, how many eventually get a PR? This is my first question.
Sure. We are a platform which connects counselors, students to the university. That platform is for study abroad only. We assume the intent of the students who are going abroad is education only. Yes, the student do have a desire to stay back and work, get the work experience. Some of them do have a desire to immigrate in that country. Our objective is only to place the students and track them for study.
I get your point that your objective is to send students and act as an intermediary between students and universities, my point is that this rationale could be driving the majority of demand, right? In case of Canada, majority of students who are going to study there, their ultimate objective is to get a PR.
I just want to understand, do you guys track what is the ultimate rationale for those students who is going to the U.K. primarily? In case of top universities, as you shared in your previous con call also, they don't go through any intermediary. They usually do it directly. In case of Crizac-affiliated university, what is that rationale that a student is going to study there?
Even for Crizac-affiliated universities, top-end universities like King's College London, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, they are on our platform. Students can go to world top universities via our platform. It's a misconception that student who wants to go to a top-tier universities applies directly and not via Crizac platform. In U.K., out of 100 commercial universities, we represent more than 95 of those ones.
One last question on the acquisition front. These two last acquisitions that you have made, could you give us what you have paid for these two acquisitions, and what was the revenue when you acquired these companies and EBITDA margin?
Both the acquisition was less than INR 10 crore. The rationale for acquisition was never to add on any benefit on revenue or EBITDA, but to help us expand into new source market or a destination market.
Okay. In case of, for example, Inova Consultancy, you said that you wanted to expand in Mexico market. Do you have some data in terms of what kind of enrollments they were initially doing before acquiring that company? They must have done that, right?
Yes. We do have, but that's commercially sensitive data, which has not been disclosed.
Okay. On a TTM basis, what has been your blended conversion rate overall?
Roughly 10%.
10%. Okay. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Anurag Chheda with 9 Rays EquiResearch . Please go ahead.
Hello, am I audible?
Yes, Anurag.
Yeah. I did a master's from U.K., so when I did that time, it was 24 months PSW. Now they've changed to 18 months. Plus there has been lot of visa issues also in U.K. Still do you think there will be enrollments to U.K. for that?
Yes, I believe that there will still be a demand. Reason being, the reduction in post-study graduate visa route from 24 -1 8 months had been done a few years now, and the demand for U.K. has not declined. Which makes me believe that student still is getting what they're looking for even after the loss of six months. Christopher, do you want to add something on this one?
there has been an increase in the exchange as well as 180 job roles have been removed from skilled visa as well. What do you think? I was just calculating. There has been almost a 50% increase in cost of my own master's, which I did years back.
that's
Yeah. Thank you, Vikash. I can add something on that question, which is, every destination exists in a global marketplace. Yes, the U.K. has seen a little bit of tightening, but on a relative basis compared to other major destinations, it has tightened less, which causes there to be enduring demand. Master's in the U.K. is one year, and then still having 18 months afterwards is still a very attractive proposition globally, where the post-study work length is longer than the degree length, and that's not the case in most other destination markets.
Can I ask further one question?
Yes, please.
When I was applying for jobs in U.K., I faced one issue. They had a thing that we cannot sponsor you later on. In first case, we will not hire you because if we are training you for a year and then we cannot sponsor you, there's no meaning in hiring you. Now that scenario was when I had 24 months of PSW. Now it is 18 months, it has become more worse for getting a skilled visa, practically.
Based on the legislation and on the policy and the rules, there's no restriction for a company to hire or sponsor someone on a post-study work visa to go onto a Tier 2 skilled worker visa. I'm not sure about your particular case, but it's a very common thing in the U.K. that students come from a post-study work visa onto a Tier 2 visa. Yeah, the U.K. is still the most straightforward for skilled worker sponsorship out of all of the major destination markets.
All right. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Himanshu Dugar with Stylus Holdings. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. My first question was on the number of applications that we have processed this time. This 7% decline, could you kind of split that between regions, like which regions saw the most decline?
We don't have exact data on this one. Will that be okay if we come back to you on this one?
Sure. The other question was on the unique applicants that you have mentioned this time. This was interesting. When you say that there are 47,000 applicants, roughly an applicant applies at two universities. Just wanted to get more understanding on this. Are they typically applying for the same regions, say, it's only U.K., or now you are seeing candidates applying for New Zealand or the other market that you opened up? If you could also give a corollary information on, of these 47,000, are there guys who are only doing non-U.K. applications as well?
Usually what we have seen based on our past experience and trend is, if a student is applying on our platform for a particular destination, they apply to multiple universities of that destination only, though that is not mandatory or necessary. In general, if I look at the overall trend, that is the case. What happens.
With reference to other destinations which we have opened in our platform, these are very recent development, where we have added New Zealand and some European countries. Long-term trend-wise, you will be right to say that roughly one student would apply to two or 2.5 universities as an average.
In the current quarter, if you could give us an insight on how many applicants did you get for the non-U.K. universities that you processed.
Again, I will have to come back to you on this one because for non-U.K. universities, mid intake is not a very big intake. I will come back to you with the data.
Roughly, is that less than 5%? I am just curious because we have done a few acquisitions the last one and a half years. We have done in Dubai, we have done here in India for the U.S. market, now most recently have done it for New Zealand via the Mexico market. I am just curious how has the shift, whether the sourcing or the destination, has there been any meaningful change in terms of the candidates? I understand the revenue is still minuscule and will take time, just from candidates, you can share some data points.
I understand. As if today if I see, because one, this quarter is very small and not every destination offers a route of entry in this quarter, so it will be very difficult to predict. Overall percentage still is fairly low to give an exact correlation of change in destination because of different source markets.
Got it. Final question, this is sort of a clarification. I think initially you mentioned we are looking at growth, then for the second column, you mentioned that we will be flat for the year. I know that it will be difficult to think through it, but based on the four-month trend, where are we? Do you think that we can actually deliver some growth in terms of enrollments or candidates processed?
Himanshu, we have a negative growth in quarter one by 4% in constant currency growth. We expect quarter two also to be a bit down. Considering the overall scenario, we expect the pent-up demand to come in quarter three and quarter four. Overall, we'll be same as last year.
With reference to quarter three, we are already seeing the application flow on our system, that has been very healthy. Any kind of a miss what we had in quarter one and what we expect in quarter two, in quarter three and quarter four.
Got it. Can I squeeze in one small question about the U.K. operations? Chris, I heard that he's moving out. If you can just elaborate a bit more on how the U.S. U.K. operations will go ahead then. Who will be leading it, et cetera.
There won't be any major change in operations. With reference to institution relationship, which Christopher was managing with U.K. universities, now we have got Eric, who has five years of experience behind him. He'll be managing those relationships with the universities. From a broader perspective, Christopher will still be with the company, will still be guiding and navigating the company for the next growth level while the U.K. university relationship will be managed by Eric.
Got it. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Thank you, everyone, for being a part of this phone call and joining us today. We sincerely appreciate your continued support and look forward to engage with you again next quarter. Thank you and have a wonderful day.
Thanks a lot.
Thank you. On behalf of Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.