Sify Technologies Limited (SIFY)
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Earnings Call: Q4 2023

Apr 24, 2023

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the Sify Technologies financial results for the fiscal year 2022 to 2023. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode, and a question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Praveen Krishna. You may begin.

Praveen Krishna
Head of Investor Relations and Public Relations, Sify Technologies

Thank you, Ali. I'd like to extend a warm welcome to all our participants on behalf of Sify Technologies Limited. I'm joined on the call today by Mr. Raju Vegesna, Chairman, Mr. M.P. Vijay Kumar, Executive Director and Group CFO, and Mr. Kamal Nath, Chief Executive Officer. Following our comments on the results, there will be an opportunity for questions. If you do not have a copy of our press release, please call Grayling Global at 646-284-9400. We'll have one sent to you. Alternatively, you may obtain a copy of the release at the investor information section on the company's corporate website at sifytechnologies.com/investor. A replay of today's call may be accessed by dialing in on the numbers provided in the press release or by accessing the webcast in the investor information section of Sify corporate website.

Some of the financial measures referred to during this call and the earnings release may include non-GAAP measures. Sify's results for the year are according to the International Financial Reporting Standards or IFRS and will differ somewhat from the GAAP announcements made in previous years. A presentation of the most directly comparable financial measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP and the reconciliation of such non-GAAP measures and of the differences between such non-GAAP measures and the most comparable financial measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP will be made available on Sify website. Before we continue, I'd like to point out that certain statements contained in the earnings release and on this conference call are forward-looking statements rather than historical facts and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described.

With respect to such forward-looking statements, the company seeks protection afforded by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These risks include a variety of factors, including competitive developments and risk factors listed from time to time in the company's SEC reports and public releases. Those lists are intended to identify certain principal factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements but are not intended to represent a complete list of all risks and uncertainties inherent to the company's business. I would now like to introduce Mr. Raju Vegesna, Chairman of Sify Technologies Limited. Chairman?

Raju Vegesna
Chairman, Sify Technologies

Thank you, Praveen. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us on the call. The digital tsunami that swept India during the COVID has settled into a steady adoption by both public and private enterprises. Enterprises are eager to unlock the power of digital automation measures to transition to the next phase of their growth. Sify is in the right place, building all the infrastructure services, be it network, data centers, and Digital Services, providing as a digital bridge for any enterprise to transform, to meet, to realize their digital ambitions. Let me now bring in Kamal, our CEO, to expand on some of the business highlights for the past year. Kamal?

Kamal Nath
CEO, Sify Technologies

Yeah. Thank you, Raju. FY 2023 has set the tone for a massive digitalization drive among all sections of enterprise in public sector and government customers. This puts Sify on the fast track to meet customer demands, which in turn offers potential for accelerated growth. There has never been a previous period of uniform accelerated growth opportunities for each of our three managed service lines, like data center infrastructure services, network infrastructure services, and Digital Services. The unique opportunity for Sify in the coming year is our ability to deliver transformational outcomes using a combination of these three services. Let me now expand on the business highlights for the year. Revenue from Data Center Colocation Services for the year grew by 35% over last year. Revenue from Digital Services for the year grew by 33% over the last year.

Revenue from Network-Centric Services for the year grew by 11% over last year. The revenue split between the businesses for the year was Data Center Colocation Services at 30%, Digital Services at 30%, and Network-Centric Services at 40%. Through the year, Sify has invested $2.09 million in startups in the Silicon Valley area as part of our corporate venture capital initiative. To date, the cumulative investment stands at $5.38 million. As on March 31, 2023, Sify provides services via 892 fiber nodes across the country, a 9% increase over last year. A detailed list of our key wins is recorded in our press release now live on our website. Let me bring in Vijay, our Executive Director and Group CFO, to elaborate on the financial highlights for the year. Vijay.

M.P. Vijay Kumar
Executive Director and Group CFO, Sify Technologies

Thank you, Kamal. Good morning, everyone. Let me briefly sum up the financial performance for the financial year 2022, 2023. Revenue was INR 33,404 million, an increase of 24% over the last financial year. EBITDA was INR 6,291 million, an increase of 4% over the last year. Profit before tax was INR 1,021 million, a decrease of 45% over last year. Profit after tax was INR 674 million, a decrease of 46% over last year. Capital expenditure for the year was INR 13,221 million. Our strategy to separate the business into three units is bearing fruit, with each business focused on its unique opportunities and attracting appropriate investments and partnership. Our investment philosophy is multipronged. Invest in new locations for data centers for long-term growth.

Expand capacity at current data centers to capture immediate demand. Strengthen our network and cloud interconnects while expanding our people strength with the necessary skills, tools, and processes. All of this while we stay cost competitive and fiscally diligent. Cash balance as at the end of the year, 31st March 2023, was INR 4,579 million. I will now hand over to our chairman for his closing remarks.

Raju Vegesna
Chairman, Sify Technologies

Thank you, Vijay. A large number of enterprises have transitioned from isolated digital overhauls to viewing their entire IT landscape in the context of transformation experiences. To achieve that, they will solicit partners who can enable multi-services deployment at the cost-effective price points. Sify, we are building a digital bridge for these enterprises to meet their aspirations. That is, we are on the right track. Thank you for joining us on this call. I will now hand over to the operator for questions. Operator.

Operator

Thank you, sir. At this time, we will be conducting a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment while we poll for questions. Thank you. Our first question is coming from Gregory Burns with Sidoti & Company. Please proceed with your question.

Gregory Burns
Analyst, Sidoti & Company

Morning. Could you please give us an update on your data center roadmap, maybe for the coming 12 months, you know, in terms of when you see capacity coming online and maybe the timing of when we might see, you know, revenue start to flow from those investments?

Raju Vegesna
Chairman, Sify Technologies

Look, Greg, we cannot disclose some of the forward-looking, but there are multiple places of our data centers coming next 12 months, starting from, you know, third and fourth quarter of this current calendar. We will have substantial things coming into the market in all the segments. As you know, we are there already in the six markets in India, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and NCR, the Delhi area. There is substantial amount of the capacities coming in all these cities across covering India in the market. We are predicting substantial growth in the data center market for us.

Gregory Burns
Analyst, Sidoti & Company

Okay. maybe we could do it like this. Like how much megawatts of capacity do you currently have? What's the roadmap for adding incremental capacity or, you know, maybe over the next 12 months or next 3-5 years?

Raju Vegesna
Chairman, Sify Technologies

As you know, we crossed more than 100 megawatts IT power already in production, and most of the thing already in usage. We are building in the next 12 months, more than 124 megawatts campuses available in the next 12 months. If you're looking at next 4 to 5 years, we are in the roadmap building 400 to 500 megawatts capacity across the country.

Gregory Burns
Analyst, Sidoti & Company

Okay. Okay. Then maybe you could just talk about sources of funding. Obviously there's gonna be a little bit of CapEx needed here. Could you just talk about, you know, sources of funding for that investment?

M.P. Vijay Kumar
Executive Director and Group CFO, Sify Technologies

Greg, Vijay Kumar here.

Raju Vegesna
Chairman, Sify Technologies

Do you want to address that?

M.P. Vijay Kumar
Executive Director and Group CFO, Sify Technologies

As far as the current expansion projects which are underway, which we are adding in the next 12 months, the financial closure is already done, which comprises partly the Compulsory Convertible Debentures, which we have issued to Kotak Special Situations Fund, partly from the banking system in terms of term loans, which have an average maturity of 7 to 8 years, and the remaining from our internal accruals. As far as the capacities to be created beyond that, we have arrangement with Kotak Special Situations Fund for drawing down additional INR 600 crore of capital. Along with our accruals, we are confident of raising needful debt for meeting the expansion beyond a period of 12 months as well.

Gregory Burns
Analyst, Sidoti & Company

Okay, perfect. In your Digital Services segment, you know, very strong second half. This quarter, I think, you know, that revenue was up about 60%. What is driving that, I guess the stronger second half on the Digital Services?

Raju Vegesna
Chairman, Sify Technologies

Greg, so Digital Services, like, we discussed a lot of the Indian enterprises transforming into digital, right? We are doing some of the major projects to transform these enterprises into the digital. This is, you know, these projects could be, you know, major, but, you know, these things by project, by project, we are transforming, you know?

Gregory Burns
Analyst, Sidoti & Company

Okay. I guess, you know, particularly on the Technology Integration Services, very project-based. What does the pipeline look like there? I know it can be lumpy, you know, how should we think about maybe Digital Services growth for this year?

Raju Vegesna
Chairman, Sify Technologies

Yeah. No, Digital Services, this year growth is, you know, more than we expected because of the COVID and all those things. Some of the projects did not complete yet, but we completed some of those projects this year. That's the reason you see the growth. You know, I think, like, I stated that there's a lot of transformation is happening in India, and you will see these kind of projects coming continuously, you know? You know, we don't know how many we are going to win in the future, those kind of things. In general, the digital transformation projects are happening and we are eager, you know, participating in those projects, you know?

Gregory Burns
Analyst, Sidoti & Company

Okay. Lastly, just generally, could you just talk about the state of the Indian economy, you know, how that's faring, how that might be impacting you in the near term? Longer term, I'm seeing a lot of, you know, headlines about foreign direct investment moving into India. I know China, you know, maybe moving out of areas like China and that might benefit India. If you could talk about kind of the near term in terms of, you know, how the economy is looking and then maybe the longer term outlook also? Thank you.

Raju Vegesna
Chairman, Sify Technologies

For Indian economy point of view, we are a strong believer of Indian economy growth. It's not just because I like it. That's what I see in the customers when we meet. Most organizations spending for a digital transformation and I never seen a single company budget cuts on their digital transformation. That way it's good. In general, Indian economy, what we see, I cannot tell GDP numbers and all, which is beyond my skill sets, but the sentiment of India growth is very high. The next question is how many investments from China is going to India now? I don't know those things, but I see a lot of the foreign investments coming to India and their belief also India growth. We are seeing the multiple trends India is growth.

Foreign investments are continuously growing. Indian enterprises continuously, you know, reaching more. Now India being the number one in population, I think, we need more all aspects, infrastructure to everything. Digital transformation. We are going to play a big role, India's digital transformation. That way we see a lot of opportunities. As India grow, we have a lot of opportunities. That's what Sify we believe in.

Gregory Burns
Analyst, Sidoti & Company

Okay, perfect. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Once again, if you have any questions or comments, please press star one on your phone at this time. It appears we have reached the end of our question and answer session. We'll hand it back over to management for any closing comments.

Raju Vegesna
Chairman, Sify Technologies

Thank you for your time on this call. We look forward to interacting with you throughout the year. Have a good day. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This does conclude today's conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time, and we thank you for your participation.

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