Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Q2 FY 2025 conference call of L&T Technology Services Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference, please signal an operator by pressing star and then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Pinku Pappan, Head of Investor Relations. Thank you, and over to you, Mr. Pappan.
Thank you, Davin. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the earnings call of L&T Technology Services for the Q2 of FY 2025. I am Pinku, heading Investor Relations. Our financial results, investor release and press release have been filed on the stock exchanges and are also available on our website, www.ltts.com. I hope you have had a chance to go through them. This call is for sixty minutes. We will try to wrap up the management remarks in twenty minutes and then open up for Q&A. The audio recording of this call will be available on our website approximately one hour after the end of this call. With that, let me introduce the leadership team present on the call today. We have Amit Chadha, CEO and MD; Abhishek, Executive Director and President; Alind Saksena, Executive Director and President; and Rajeev Gupta, CFO.
We will begin with Amit providing an overview of the company performance and outlook, followed by Rajeev, who will walk you through the financial statements and performance. Let me now hand the call over to Amit.
Sure. So I hope I'm audible. Okay. So thank you, Pinku, and thank you all of you for joining us on the call today. If I look back at 2021, we created a vision, a mission and a value charter, and based on that, we are repositioning our brand as purposeful, agile innovation. This embodies the fundamental way of how we will do business and deliver meaningful transformation for all our stakeholders. Purposeful stands for our vision of building a sustainable tomorrow and a better world, leveraging technology and delivering inclusive growth for all stakeholders. Agile relates to our ability to learn, evolve, and adapt to changing technologies, market dynamics, while harnessing the imagination of our engineers. Innovation involves anticipating and investing in future technologies, systems, and processes to bring world-class solutions to our clients across products, processes and operations.
As we continue to pivot on growth, this refreshed positioning will help us accelerate engineering the change for our clients. I am confident this will create a platform for the future and establish LTTS in three strategic segments: Mobility, Sustainability, and Tech, and build each of them into standalone billion-dollar units over the coming years. With that, let me provide the key highlights of our Q2 performance. We had a strong quarter, with revenue growing at 3.9% sequentially, which was broad-based across regions and segments. Sustainability led the growth with 6.5%. Mobility grew by 5% and tech by nearly 1%. We won two $20 million-plus deals, four $10 million-plus deals and two significant empowerment agreements. These wins have been across segments. Our customer mining has seen steady improvement on year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter basis.
The number of 30 million accounts has increased to 7 now, up by 1 quarter-on-quarter and 3 year-on-year. Similarly, the number of 10 million accounts has increased to 33 now, up by 2 quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year. In line with our earlier commentary, we have made focused investments into three segments. We are starting to see the results in terms of pipeline, deal wins, revenue growth, including this quarter, as you've seen. These investments have impacted EBIT in H1. We expect with growth continuing in larger deals in our strategic areas, the EBIT trajectory will move upward. With this, let me provide segmental performance and outlook. Starting with mobility, we had a strong 5% growth in Q2 on the back of 6% in Q1, driven by large deal ramp-ups in SDV and hybridization.
As we had highlighted during the Investor and Analyst Day, a lot of the SDV development is happening at the OEM end, and our exposure and presence at OEMs, especially with the European and U.S. OEMs, has increased significantly over the last year. The key value proposition that we offer to our customers is advanced automotive solutions across ADAS, virtualization and AI for specific use cases, digital twin and connected apps, SDV, digital cockpit, all of which accelerate their time to market and help them stay competitive. In off-highway, we continue to see good demand as hybridization and SDV adoption continues to rise. We launched LTTS iDrive, our proprietary framework for accelerating SDV implementation, applicable for both auto and off-highway. We've already won two programs, one each in U.S. and Europe, leveraging LTTS iDrive.
Within aero and rail, we are beginning to see more deals in rail. We signed a partnership with ETF Rail for the development of digital solutions and creating of an intelligent transportation system. We have multiple solutions in rail, leveraging AI and augmented reality that have been successfully deployed by customers. Overall, we see a robust deal pipeline for mobility. However, Q3 will be slightly soft on account of seasonality. We expect this to rebound in Q4. Now on to our second segment, sustainability. In line with our expectations, we saw a strong rebound in sustainability performance with 6.5% growth. As compared to Q1, where only process or plant engineering was firing, in Q2, we had industrial performing equally strongly. We are seeing a turnaround in industrial as customers are looking ahead and investing as they see a more promising outlook.
These investments are towards automation in the form of digital platforms, manufacturing, and supply chain optimization. As a result, there's a strong demand for setting up centers of excellence for clients around the same. In the process sub-segment, we continue to see demand in projects, engineering, and plant modernization. Leveraging digital technology is a priority for our customers. One of the large deal wins in Q2 is with an O&G customer, where we are developing a digital twin of their refinery, which allows the customer to see an integrated 3D view of all the assets in the refinery. Similarly, in other environment, we are a projects engineering partner for a new plant, where we are setting up command center, which will allow them to remotely control and manage the refinery.
In the CPG sub-segment, the C-plus-one strategy is benefiting us, as customers are setting up new plants and expanding operations in India. We are therefore seeing an uptick in project engineering in India from our global clients. Leveraging our deep expertise in Industry 4.0, we have now launched our proprietary Factory Next framework for the factory of the future, covering smart sensors, edge, robots, IIoT, and data lakes. Our framework enables cobots to enhance productivity. This is getting good traction. We have started two deployments in the U.S. In summary, for sustainability, we are seeing a good pipeline and a number of deals in the pipeline, both at process and industrial level. Expect the growth momentum to sustain in Q3 and beyond. In tech, we had a good growth in our Semcon and ISV sub-segments.
With our hyperscaler accounts, we have now won two deals, one on device and the other on platform engineering. These have gone into execution in October. Given the tailwinds in AI, Semcon sub-segment continues to ramp up for us with multiple programs across the value chain. In comms and media, while performance was soft in Q2, we are seeing a few transformational deals that could potentially close in Q3 in the area of network management and vendor consolidation. In the MedTech sub-segment, we continue to see a rebound led by our strategic focus areas of QARA, digital health, and digital manufacturing. As part of our collaboration with the leading AI Semcon major, we are building an AI solution for a customer for image enhancement and vision care.
Overall, with the pipeline and large deals in play, we expect tech growth to improve in Q3, led by our work with Semcon, Hyperscaler and MedTech. Now, a few updates on technology and innovation charter. Our engineers added a total of 51 patent filings in Q2, and cumulative patent filings now stand at 1,394. The innovation is also reflected in the ranking. We have been ranked as leaders by HFS in IoT services, Avasant in digital engineering services, Zinnov in data and AI. To help customers accelerate their AI, GenAI journey, we have launched GenIQ, our software development platform for AI applications. Let us now discuss our outlook. Our pipeline continues to grow at a very healthy pace, with a good number of large deals in the $25 million to 100 million range.
We are tracking these deals closely and expect a good number of closures in Q3 and early Q4. In fact, some of these would have closed in Q2 itself, but got delayed due to elections and macro-related winds. A common thread in most of these deals is clients are excited about our differentiated solutions and positioning, and want to leverage our expertise as they continue to develop new products and transform their operations, manufacturing, and supply chain. This priority was further validated during our recently concluded Client Advisory Council meeting, which consists of 16 members with a combined market cap of $2 trillion and a revenue of $400 billion. We are just confident of broad-based growth continuing in the coming quarters and reaffirm our FY 2025 guidance of 8% to 10% revenue growth in constant currency and aspiration of 16% EBIT margin levels.
Before I close, I do want to reconfirm that we stand strong in wanting to build three billion-dollar segments and get to revenues of $2 billion with 17% to 18% EBIT margin in the medium term. This ambition has been met with excitement by our employees, leaders, and support from our key customers and board members. We remain committed to this journey. With that, I now hand over to Rajeev. Thank you, and look forward to taking your questions.
Thank you, Amit. Good evening to all of you. I would like to start by saying that our Go Deeper to Stay strategy is indeed showing encouraging results. We had a strong quarter with broad-based growth and deals across segments and regions. As we had indicated during our Q1 commentary and Investor Analyst Day, we are pivoting on growth. Accordingly, we've been making investments ahead of the curve in building new tech capabilities and adding distinct segments for delivery and sales across the globe. Consequently, this has had impact for H1 FY 2025 EBIT margins. With that, let me take you through Q2 FY 2025 financials, starting with the P&L. Our revenue for the quarter was 2,573 crores, a growth of 4.5% on sequential basis. Our year-on-year growth for Q2 FY 2025 came in at 7.8%.
Our gross margin remains flat, however, on account of investments in sales and technology, our SG&A as a percentage of revenue increased by 40 basis points sequentially, and our EBIT margin for the quarter came in at 15.1%, slightly lower compared to Q1 FY 2025. Now moving to below EBIT. Talking about other income, other income was INR 53 crores, slightly higher on sequential basis due to Forex gains. Our effective tax rate for Q2 was 27.4%, within the range of our expectation of 27.5%. Net income for the quarter was up 1.3% on year-on-year basis and came in at INR 320 crores, which is 12.2% of revenues. Moving to the balance sheet, let me highlight the key line items. Our Q2 DSO was at 99 days compared to 102 days in Q1.
Unbilled days were at 17 days in Q2, compared to 23 days in Q1. The combined DSO, including unbilled, stood at 116 days compared to 125 days in Q1, which is within our target range of 115 to 125 days for the year. Let me now talk about cash flows. As a result of improvement in DSO, our Q2 free cash flows came in at a healthy INR 417 crores, leading to year-to-date free cash flows at INR 328 crores. We will continue the effort to improve cash flow during the rest of the year. Our cash and investments stood at INR 2,849 crores at the end of Q2 , versus INR 2,784 crores at the end of Q1 .
This is after final dividend payout of nearly INR 349 crore in Q2. As you would have seen today, the board approved an interim dividend of INR 17 per share. Now moving to revenue metrics. On a sequential basis, dollar revenue growth was 3.9% in the quoted terms and 3.4% on constant currency basis. We saw broad-based growth in Q2, with all segments growing sequentially, led by Sustainability and Mobility segments. Moving to operational metrics, the on-site offshore mix was at similar range as compared to Q1. Offshore percent now stand at 58.3%. We continue to work on measures to gradually improve this metric to our aspiration of 60%. The T&M revenue mix was 62.5% in Q2, slightly lower as compared to Q1.
Client profile, which indicates number of $1 million plus accounts, has shown a sequential improvement in the $30 million, $20 million and $10 million plus category. The client profile will continue to improve in the coming quarters. Client contribution to revenue has shown an improvement in the top 20 and the top 10 category as compared to Q1. We expect revenue from top customers to improve going forward, as we are running targeted programs on client mining. Account was at 23,698 in Q2, compared to 23,575 in Q1, while accretion has slightly gone down as compared to Q1. Realized rupee for Q2 was at 83.90 to the U.S. dollar, a depreciation of around 0.6% versus Q1. Before I conclude, let me give some visibility on the EBIT margin trajectory going forward.
As mentioned by Amit and me, we have prioritized investments in H1 FY 2025 to accelerate growth, build leadership and technology solutions ahead of the curve. We expect this will lead to a step up in revenue growth and better quality of revenues, providing us with a path of $2 billion revenue aspiration and 17% to 18% EBIT margin range in the medium term. In addition, we will continue our improvement efforts on operational levers like offshoring, pyramid optimization, higher productivity using tools and reasonable platforms, and indeed, SG&A optimization. For FY 2025, we reaffirm our revenue guidance of 8% to 10% and aspire H2 and expect H2 EBIT margins to be better than H1 and continue to aspire for 16% EBIT level for the year. Thank you. Now, I hand over to the moderator for questions.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. If you wish to withdraw yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to please use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Bhavik Mehta from JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you. A couple of questions. Firstly, Amit, if I look at the attrition rate for the next two quarters now, it has gone up significantly. Now I understand that Q2 is a very strong quarter because of SWC, but how should one think about Q3, given it's typically a weak quarter from a seasonality perspective, and you did highlight that mobility growth could slow down because of that. So what is the confidence of, you know, still achieving even the lower end of the guide? And was it a thought process to at least cut the guidance to the lower end? Because it just means like the top end of the guidance is out of reach right now.
Yeah. So, Bhavik, we are reiterating and holding our guidance. There was a similar question that was asked last quarter as well on the ask rate. We are well aware of the ask rate, and given the pipeline that we have got and the order conversion we've got, we are fairly comfortable with where we are. I would not like to state whether we are the top end or bottom end, but there is work to be done, but we are fairly comfortable on where we are right now.
Okay. Second question was on margins. I remember last time it was mentioned that margin trajectory should improve from 2Q onwards, and we have seen margins declining this time, despite not having wage hikes. We'll, I'm assuming we'll have wage hikes in 3Q. So how should we think about margin trajectory from here on?
Thank you, Bhavik. This is Rajeev here. So I'll answer two parts of the question. One, of course, the improvement on the EBIT margin. We indeed see EBIT margins improving from Q3 onwards. And on the wage hikes, yes, we plan them for, to be in Q3, and will be effective from November onwards. So we will see likely two months of impact in Q2, Q3 for increments. Just to complete, Bhavik, the point, we should likely see in a full quarter an impact of close to about 100 to 125 basis points on account of increments.
The fact that this is two months in a quarter, it will be lower impact to start off with, but conscious of the fact we aspire for 16% EBIT level, and we'll be able to absorb this increment in Q3 as well.
Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Ravi Menon from Macquarie. Please go ahead.
Hi, thank you for the opportunity, and congrats on a good quarter. I want to understand why tech was flat, more or less this quarter, you know, despite SWC, which should be slightly positive to seasonality. And second part on the Maharashtra cybersecurity deal, wasn't there any revenue this quarter?
So as one tech grew at 1%, like I said, that, the hyperscalers did well for us, in this quarter. There was, there was a couple of, specific areas where the projects got over, et cetera. But Q3, will be a good quarter for tech as well as for sustainability, because we've got the visibility right now. In fact, close to announcing a significant collaboration with an AI major. We'll do that, and, you'll see that coming out. So we're fairly comfortable there. Now, in terms of cybersecurity, it continues to grow. We don't call out cybersecurity as a percentage of revenue, just like AI, but both AI, GenAI projects, as well as cybersecurity and, OT, as well as, product cybersecurity and, and, continue to expand for us.
We are actively hiring in these areas.
I was asking specifically about the Maharashtra cybersecurity deal that we had.
Yes. So that was launched. There's some work still to be done in that area. So I was thinking you were talking about cybersecurity internationally in the U.S. and European clients. So, yeah, so no. So specifically to Maha Cyber, it got launched. Congratulations to the Maharashtra government for thinking ahead of the curve and you're helping us execute or asking us to execute the project. It's not completed yet. It's been launched. There's a lot of work to be done there. So it will continue for a little more time.
And that seems to be asset light, and there is no real, fixed, asset increase, due to that project, right?
One second. Can you repeat that question?
I think that, you know, there seems to be no fixed asset increase on your books, even though the Maharashtra cybersecurity got launched.
Yeah. Largely, you know, there's a little bit of hardware assets, but largely a software project. Like we had mentioned, the Maha Cyber actually is more like a traditional LTTS project, if you ask me, the way we have executed it and what we're doing. We ran it as a software program.
Thanks. And SWC, you know, we said... Sorry.
I'm sorry. Sorry, sorry, Ravi. And that is a marked departure from what software, what SWC used to be. In fact, we have a pipeline now that is built up for SWC in the Middle East as well. And as you move forward, hopefully we should be able to, you know, announce some closures there as well. So we are in on that trajectory, and we have committed to you on SWC that we'll start to internationalize it, take it to more mature software SI, be asset light. So we're working in all these directions right now.
Thanks a lot. Thank you for the clarification. And Q3, how should we think about SWC? I know that Q4 is supposed to be really good, but, how is the seasonality for Q3?
Think about Q3 as a growth quarter.
Okay
in revenues and margins.
Okay.
And on the previous question, I want to reiterate, when Rajeev had made commentary about two quarters ago, he had said H1 margins will be lower than H2. And that's what has happened. And if you look at it, the gross margin is maintained. The increase is only in Q2 in SG&A, which is sales cost, which will start to or has started to give us backlog and then will give us revenues, as well as tech investments, where compute storage costs are fairly significant that we've had to incur for AI investments and SDV and Factory Next launch.
Good. Thanks so much, and best of luck.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sulabh Govila from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thanks for taking my question. So my first question is on the deal wins. So just wanted to understand, we had called out in the analyst meet that our pipeline is two X of last year, and on top of that, we expect win rates to improve, which would translate into higher number of deal wins being reported going forward. So just wanted to understand by when one should expect to see higher number of deal wins, you know, on a realistic basis, by when do you think that can happen?
Yeah. So, so Sulabh, thank you. See, if you look at the deal wins, the absolute value TCV deal wins are higher in Q2 as opposed to Q1. That's number one. Number two is that we have a significant number of or a large number of $50 million deals, as well as a couple of $100 million deals and a lot of $25 million deals. And we are comfortable to say that we are, we are trying to get them closed in Q3 for us, and then operationalize in margins towards the end of Q3 and then Q4 from there. Just like, you know, the Maha Cyber deal that we had got, which was very quick-paced.
So we are looking at some of this to come in, and, you will start seeing some of that reflecting out, either in press releases or through the quarter or at the end of the quarter as we go forward. We've actually appointed a large deals leader, Chief Business Officer for strategic initiatives and large deals based out of Dallas, Texas. And we have reorganized the team, and we're taking it forward.
Okay, understood. And with respect to mobility as a segment, just wanted to understand what you are hearing and seeing on the ground, particularly in Europe, with respect to how OEMs are behaving. Have you seen any sort of project cancellations, or have you seen any pause in the ongoing projects that are going on? So just wanted to understand what's the outlook from your perspective there?
Sure. See, we had a strategy about eight, 12 quarters ago that we will start to improve our OEM dependency and reduce our dependency on tier ones. That has played out well for us because now a percentage revenue in automotive and non-auto that we do in OEMs is a, a quantum shift from OEMs as opposed to tier ones. So tier ones exposure was, has been, I will not say minimized. We love the work that we do for anybody. We respect our customer relationships, but we have, you know, our, our top 30 accounts, we've got OEMs now more than tier ones, right? So that's number one. Number two, when it comes to OEMs in U.S. and Europe, and the one that we work with in Japan, that we had shown the recording to you during the IID, they continue to work with us.
We have not seen any slowdown there. Tier one, there's a couple of them that are in a problem, and we are actually creating deals to help them overcome some of their transitionary pressures that they've got. I've got my President and Executive Director, Alind, here. He, he'll add to this mobility now on in terms of the work that we're doing in other areas.
So in addition to what Amit said, what we are also seeing is an increased spend on the SDV side. And for most of our customers here, we are seeing those requirements come up throughout. So that we do see continuing. Now, on the traditional engineering that we have been doing, there are deals that we are working on, which are on consolidation, which will, we believe, help perhaps in Q3, Q4, as we go through on increasing our revenue and footprint with our customers. But that's making us more strategic to our customers, and that trend, we believe, will continue from the point where we are at today. Thank you.
Okay, understood. And last question on margins from my side. Rajeev, when we say that there is a two-month impact of wage hikes in this quarter, which is roughly about eighty basis point, so what are the tailwinds, you know, you have on the margins, which will negate this, and you'll be able to deliver a growth on Q-on-Q basis on the margins?
So, Sulabh, to understand your question, of course, you did the math, right? I mean, two months in a quarter, about eighty basis points from the increment side. Your question is more to understand what are more tailwinds that can likely have an impact of margin. Did I get that correctly?
Yeah. So what will help you negate this headwind, which is there on this?
Understand. So, I mean, first and foremost, Amit talked a lot in terms of, you know, pipeline, large deals, quality of revenue. These are all tailwinds that will help in terms of margin accretion. The second is, look, a lot of the investments that we had called out indeed have played out in H1, so that's behind us, right? So like we said earlier, H2 margins will be better than H1, so you will see margin improve anyway in Q3. Last but not the least, we'll continue to see productivity improvements. So this is on account of optimization of pyramid in terms of offshoring, and also as we continue to see fresher intake, we will see, you know, a lot of deployment on some of the newer deals that should lead to margin improvements.
Just a quick clarification. When we say, better quality of deals, does that translate into higher gross margins in the deal?
Yes, it does, and in addition to that, right, and these have been all focused initiatives, we will also see, you know, likely accretion coming from improvement in bill rates, right? These are focused initiatives that we do, and we tend to target, you know, an X amount of dollars coming from improvement in bill rates.
I'll add that we've sequenced, if you ask me, in a way, planned this out to make sure that when the investments were there, we didn't do the increments, and now that we've got tailwinds coming in the margins, we are doing the increments. So it's a thought up, thought through strategy to be able to deliver the 16% level that we initially guided at the beginning of the year.
Understood. Thanks for taking my question.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Nitin Padmanabhan from Investec. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, good evening. On the margins, do you think the whatever increase we have seen in the SG&A, is there any element which will not be there next quarter, or everything will be growth driven, in terms of the margin offsets, broadly?
So, see, I've already mentioned to that. Again, maybe I'll sound repeating what I mentioned. A lot of the investments that we called out in terms of AI, SDV, Factory of the Future, building the leadership, all of that has taken place in H1, right? So when you talk about going forward, these are not going to repeat, right? So you will see some of that normalization coming to SG&A cost. Our SG&A costs have indeed increased if you look at on a year-on-year basis. We feel they will normalize between that 10% level, and that's what we're working towards.
Got it. That's very helpful. On the Maha Cyber deal, do you think there's any milestone payment that could come through, considering they've gone live, that should also help margin? Or it would just be the SG&A benefit?
Are you asking us payments or are you asking us revenue?
Revenue. So any milestone revenue that comes through, which will flow through and add margin?
See, there is various elements there. There are payments to be made, et cetera. And yes, there is a milestone payment that will come through that will also help. So these are all part of the planning that we had done at the beginning of the year as we saw these projects unfold. So that's why we are o ur comfort for delivering the growth in the margins comes from some of these elements.
Got it. Got it. So,
One minute, one minute, please. Yeah.
I can just add to that, right? So Maha Cyber as a project, this is a fixed price project, right? And all these milestones are planned and all revenue recognition is tied to those milestones being achieved. And we are in fact on target in terms of achieving those milestones, which of course will, you know, trickle down in terms of revenues.
Okay. That's very clear. Now, on the growth, I think what the guidance is implying is 4.5% to 7% kind of a CAGR for the second half. Now, I think based on your comments, it's basically based on the deals that are already in the bag, plus closures that you expect in Q3, that will drive a stronger Q4 along with the SWC seasonality that should help you land within the range. So is that the broad thought process? Is that a fair characterization?
Yes. I couldn't have said this better. Thank you so much. You are absolutely right, and you know, there was a couple of deals that we were hoping that we'll close it this quarter. They wouldn't have increased our revenues, because this was the revenue we had planned, but they should be slipped into October and close. So that's where we are broadly, but we are comfortable in that right now.
Okay, but you are not worried... There's no worry on any extended furloughs or any such thing considering macro at this point in time? You're not seeing anything on the horizon.
We are seeing furloughs in automotive, like I said, and that's why we said it will be a little soft. The other areas don't get so impacted by furloughs, but this is a work in progress. We are fairly comfortable with the state, like I said, but there's an election uncertainty that we'll go through, and we'll see where it goes.
Super. That's very helpful. Thank you so much, and onward then.
Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Manik Taneja from Axis Capital. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. And I know you've answered a lot of questions around the implied arithmetic, et cetera. But Amit, when you spoke last quarter, you had spoken about a very strong pipeline and which was reiterated even during our analyst day. In the current quarter, when you spoke, you said that you did see some delays due to election-related uncertainty, et cetera, et cetera. Do you think, and given what you're talking about Q3, do you think we'll probably see good deal closures now and thereby helping us in terms of growth in Q4, or probably just gets pushed to the next year, given the typical seasonality of OND. That's question number one, and the second question was for Rajeev.
If you could help us understand how the fresher intake for FY 2025 has progressed through both Q1 and Q2, and the likely trajectory in terms of fresher onboarding for the rest of the year? Thank you.
The pipeline is year on year bigger, quarter on quarter bigger, number one. Number two, the number of serious $100 million deals, $50 million deals, $25 million plus deals, is higher than where it was two quarters ago, right? We continue to work with our clients to get these to closure. The reality is that there is a little bit of question around which way policies will be after the U.S. election. Reality, but we do think that when we spoke to you last time, we were expecting some of this, but having said that, nothing is grinded to a halt. Decisions continue to be made, and if all goes per whatever we have, we forecast right now at this stage, we will have a decent Q3 and a bumper Q4. On freshers.
Yeah, I'll take the second part of the question. So in terms of fresher intake, for FY 2025, we've planned around two thousand freshers to be hired. We've been implementing that, so accordingly, we've seen freshers in Q1 and Q2. That intake has indeed happened. In fact, this year our fresher intake will be higher than what it was last year. Last year, we did close to about fifteen hundred fresher hiring. So like I said, we will do close to about two thousand fresher hiring in FY 2025.
Okay. Would it be possible to get the numbers for H1 and thereby probably try and understand the impact in terms of-
You know, so much of specific, but we certainly, you know, let you know the annual plan that we have. So that's where it is.
Sure. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vibhor Singhal from Nuvama Equities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thanks for taking my question, and congrats, Amit and team, for a very solid execution this quarter, so Amit, just wanted to dwell on two aspects. One is on the mobility segment. You mentioned that you are looking at a seasonal weakness in Q3 in the mobility segment. Do you, I mean, are we certain about the fact that the weakness that we are looking at is more of seasonal and not much of structural? We've had couple of auto OEMs, some of the profit warnings we've had. A couple of your peers already talked about weakness in the auto segment, specifically in Europe and specifically in Germany, where spends on most aspects have been curtailed.
SDV continues, but I think those are also kind of talked about in our shows. So any color on that will be very helpful.
Thank you. So we were, I'll do a little bit, and then I'll request Alind to add. See, when you look at mobility, the reason we've said seasonality is because, normally last year also you looked at, two years ago also you looked at, these guys leverage the Q3, our Q3, their Q4 holidays to try and offset-
Mm-hmm.
some of their costs, and therefore we see that seasonality coming. Now, and I will say very clearly, OEMs, we continue to see expansion, and I knock wood as I say it, with our differentiated solutions. But tier ones has been a little bit of a challenge. They, they've had a challenge themselves, and they've passed their challenge on to us.
Mm-hmm.
Having said that, because our tier ones are in a challenge, and we as nice and good partners are trying to find solutions where we can help them pick up some of that work and leverage our capabilities, like we had done the deal with Forvia in Q1, we similarly can do some more of those deals, and that is where the pipeline is very strong to see what can flow. We close this quarter, and that operationalizes in Q4 for us and helps us in growing. Second part is the investments in SD made. Sorry, actually, Alind should talk about it. The investments made in ourselves.
Right. No, I think, Amit covered it. So you know that we have launched the new solution, LTTS iDrive, which is picking up speed, which is getting attention, and which is helping us move. Now, to your point, very specifically about the industry and specifically in Europe, so we are not seeing large cancellations or stoppages of work. There is a slowdown, which is there for sure. So the growth trajectory, especially short term into Q3, maybe like we have said, will be muted. But otherwise, we remain very aspirational of continuing our presence and our strategy with our customers. We think that that's going to play out well for us in long term.
This is the time to align with our customers and be able to continue to provide those services at good quality, which I'm very thankful that our team is doing. And we'll stay focused on that and move on. Amit, my second question is on the Maharashtra cybersecurity project. So just wanted to understand the dynamics of it. So you mentioned there is some bit of work left on this, in the project. After that, we will probably get a milestone payment, and post that, does this project come to an end, or is there some other maintenance revenue that will keep ticking on for the next or forthcoming years as well?
So, yeah. So, let me say that, there's some stuff that we can't share, specific to a contract, there is stuff that we can't. So what we can share is, there is work to be done and completed. It's been launched. A part of it is alive. There is other parts that are not live, that need to get done over the next, three to six months. Beyond that, there's a O&M maintenance phase that we have got in this, that we will execute over a five year period.
So-
That's where that is, that we are doing.
Got it. Okay. So this was, I mean, so, so, and I'm assuming the O&M part, of course, will of course be significantly lower than the kind of work that they're doing at this point of time, but it will continue for the five-year period is what you are expecting?
Yes, yes.
Got it. Got it. Perfect. Great. Thank you so much, guys. Thanks for taking my questions, and wish you all the best.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Ruchi Mukhija from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
So, you guys mentioned about a weak seasonality in mobility due to furloughs. I wanted to check, is this broad-based across client or skewed in few accounts only?
Yeah. So this is, is it broad-based, is specific clients? I think largely broad-based. I mean, this is a Detroit phenomenon. This is a Europe phenomenon. Yeah.
In other two verticals, do we have any early indications for furloughs from the clients?
No, normally, no. So we don't have early indications of furloughs for Tech. We, I want to actually confirm, for Sustainability actually in the process area, they're asking us to ramp up, right? In Tech also, the orders we have won, we talked about today, we are ramping up in Q3. So Tech will ramp up Q3 for sure. Sustainability will ramp up Q3 for sure. Mobility, all I'm saying is soft, so allow us some time to work it. The quarter is not done yet, and we continue to work, you know, across the globe. And my colleague, Alind, talked about LTTS and iDrive and others. These are licensed revenue programs. We in fact generated a couple of those this quarter, so we continue to work on those. Absolutely. Look, again, Ruchi, so I can say this not just to you, but everybody.
See, we've always been. Our whole goal has been to be transparent and be upfront, so we don't create any surprises. We have come in the year, we have told you about the margins. We are following our trajectory. Revenues, we have followed our trajectory, and that's why you're saying mobility may be soft, but work to be done. The quarter not over yet. Actually, the quarter just started.
Appreciate this. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Abhishek Shindarkar from InCred Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, good evening, and congrats on a good quarter. I have a couple of questions. The first one is, you know, regarding the furloughs, especially for the aero, and also your comments about the Hi-Tech, the tech furloughs. So the commentary by one of the OEMs in aero has been relatively weak. So any color, you know, in terms of, you know, furloughs for that space? And the second is on the Hi-Tech side. So are your, is your commentary on furloughs driven by the ramp up of the project, or it is generally in the Hi-Tech space, you know, furloughs this year could be lower than last year? That's first question. The second question is for Rajeev.
The accounts receivables number, or the absolute increase has been material over H1 compared to the revenue growth. Now, is this largely related to one cybersecurity project, or are we generally seeing a delayed cycle across customers? And the last one is, you know, for Amit, again. Any comment on the sequential decline in the number of active clients? Thank you for taking my questions.
Okay. So Abhishek, thank you. Let's divide this up. Aerospace furloughs, Alind, would you like to say something? Does it impact us, not impact us?
Not majorly. I mean, we have seen furloughs previously in Q3 as well. This is a regular phenomenon that happens. Yes, and we are referring to one particular customer, and there will be some ripple effect of that down to some of the customers that we work with. But that's something which is manageable, that we are working with, and I don't see any major impact on that beyond what we have already talked about.
Yeah. Now, on Hi-Tech, the furloughs... See, the furloughs are a normal phenomenon, but as you win deals, you are willing to overcome that because you're ramping up, right? Broadly asymmetric, and therefore, I'm saying Hi-Tech will increase confirmed pipeline, confirmed bookings, that will help, right? That said, your third question was sequential decline. I am trying to see where there is a sequential decline in clients. Is there material? Nothing. In fact, I thought that the market we had improved. I thought somebody will compliment us today that the number of 50 million accounts in L&T has gone up. Let me just see, Abhishek. I don't think so. So there is no material impact.
Got it. And maybe Rajeev can answer on the accounts receivable.
Good. Thank you. Abhishek, let me answer on the accounts receivable. I was just waiting for Amit to conclude. So look, Abhishek, I tend to guide in terms of the DSO, right? Our range is between 115 to 125. We came in at 116 days, right? Which is the lower end of the DSO guidance, and we continue to work to improve this. Now, movement in terms of accounts receivable, et cetera, given that we are a growing business, you will always see that. So I will not have you worry about the fact that look for one quarter, you see an uptake, because largely we continue to manage how we look at DSO and optimizing and of course improving on the free cash flows.
Understood. Just a follow-up to that, we have been referring to a milestone payment also. So assuming that comes in, would our free cash flow to net income number be similar to FY 2024 in FY 2025?
Yeah. We aspire to, you know, to maintain that. In fact, I did clarify it even during the investor analyst day. It's following a very similar pattern like we had in FY 2024, where our H2 free cash flows were better than the H1 free cash flows. You will likely see that same trend mapping out even in this year.
Absolutely. Thank you for taking my question, sir, and best wishes for the rest of the year.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sandeep Shah from Equirus Securities. Please go ahead.
Opportunity and congrats on good execution. Rajeev, the question, sorry to harp again on the margins, but if I look at the aspiration and target is 16% versus first half being 15.3%. So second half, you have to do 16.7% kind of a EBIT margin to achieve the full year at 16%. Versus that, we have a wage hike which is coming into play in Q3, Q4, and there would be a ramp-up in our SWC season, which is generally a low margin business versus your traditional, export business. And, we are starting on a base of 15.1%. So what can go wrong in terms of achieving this target?
So Sandeep, I think some of the parts I have already talked about, but maybe I'll kind of repeat and reiterate that. So one, we did call out that, look, H1 will have investments. Consequently, we'll see H2 to be better compared to H1 in terms of EBIT margins, right? So you're starting off with a better base compared to what you're seeing in H1, right? It will definitely improve on the count, that we will not see those levels of investment in H2. Second, you have tailwinds in terms of growth. Amit talked about deals, growth, all of that is mapped in Q3 and Q4, which also will aid in terms of margins. Another fact, another part is that, look, our productivity improvement initiatives continue, and we will see benefits from those. What...
See, the fact that, you know, we've got revenue growth plan, we've got some of the initiatives already working, we continue to aspire for the 16% levels, right? Now, what can go wrong is fact that, look, we see large deals coming, which may have a start, but as of now, I think some of that we've already factored in. So the fact that, look, we continue to follow the revenue path should allow us to meet the 16% levels of this year.
Okay, thanks. And just a bookkeeping for the Maharashtra Cybersecurity project, is it fair to assume the bulk of the phase I of the revenue in terms of the project completion could be booked in Q4 and Q1 of next year, rather than Q3 of this year?
So maybe without getting into specifics, because we already talked about bookkeeping, I'll probably keep it at a level which is understandable. We talked about the fact that Maha Cyber is a fixed price project, right? And it's milestone-based. So as we meet the milestones, we recognize the revenue. I think Amit already talked about the fact that, look, you've got a capped part of the deal, which continues to be executed. The remaining part of it is over the next three to six months, then follows the maintenance part, which is going to be over the course of next five years. We are on course, and that's at least to ensure that, look, you know, we are. And like I said, you know, some of this is already planned for. It's not that we will see any one-off bump because of it.
It's all planned for in Q3 and Q4.
Okay. Thanks, and all the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Dipesh Mehta from Emkay Global. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. A couple of questions. First, about GMS. You indicated about some normalization of GMS spend. Do you expect absolute number to go down, because of the investment which we made and you highlighted in a few areas where we made investment, AI, SD, leadership, all those stuff? So first question, whether absolute amount of reduction you are expecting or absolute remain same, revenue growth will drive some kind of percentage benefit? Second question is about headcount. If I look, headcount addition remain muted, considering the ask rate, what we are aiming for in H2, do you expect headcount addition to mirror it, reflecting the ask rate? Or you think there is enough utilization potential available, which can require much lower headcount addition entering into H2? And last question is about segmental margin.
If I look Hi-Tech and sustainability margin, segment margin remained under pressure for both the segments. So if you can provide some details on what is playing out, because sustainability had a good quarter, but margin remained under decent, sizable pressure kind of thing. Thanks.
Deepak, let me answer to all three of your questions. So first, on the GMS side, I think both will play out, right? Both the percentage and the absolute will play out. I already talked about that GMS should normalize at about 10% levels, so we should see certain improvement, and part of that will come because you're seeing growth, part of that will come in absolutely, right? Second, in terms of the headcount addition, what you may have noted over the past few quarters, I think we've got the headroom to deliver growth with, you know, the headcount that we've had. Even going forward, at least for the next couple of quarters, we see the headroom. Some of that has been planned consciously, given that we had, you know, some large deals going on.
We've got the headcount ramp up, keeping in mind that these deals have transpired or likely to transpire. You will not see a lot of headcount addition coming in the next two quarters. That also dovetails to the fact that, look, you will see revenues, you know, drop down to margin. Lastly, on the segment margin, so if you look at, you know, mobility at about 19.4%, that indeed has improved compared to Q1. If you look at sustainability, it has been around that 25% to 26% level. What you saw in Q1 was probably slightly better off compared to where it has been, so it's kind of normalizing between that 25% to 26% level.
Wherever there is an opportunity to see revenue and optimize in terms of cost, you will definitely see that trickle down in terms of margins for sustainability. Hi-Tech, it's a mix of a lot of businesses, including Smart World. Like you've known, Smart World relatively is at lower margins compared to the other businesses. But what you will see in H2, this business also will have improved margins relative to what you've seen in H1. So those are some of the points I wanted to share for your questions, Dipesh.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will take that as our last question. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Pinku Pappan for closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Thank you all for joining us on the call today. We hope we were able to answer most of your questions. If there are questions that you still need clarification on, I'll be happy to answer them. And we really hope to meet, you know, all of you during the course of this quarter. With that, on behalf of the leadership team here, we are signing off, and have a good day. Thank you.
Thank you. On behalf of L&T Technology Services Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.