HCL Tech’s Q1 FY20 earnings are a mystery

/ September 15, 2019/ Financials, HCL Tech, India

You may have noticed we had not reported HCL Tech’s Q1 FY20 earnings. HCL has changed the way its reports its segments: while in previous quarters, its engineering and R&D services (ERS) unit accounted for up to 25% of revenues, under the new reporting, it now only represented ~17% of revenues. ERS is now a USD 1.6bn, rather than a USD 2.1bn business. HCL has transfered USD 0.5bn away from ERS. We have asked for a clarification to HCL and we will keep you up-to-date, when we get one.

Under its new perimeter, ERS had Q2 FY20 revenues of USD 40m, up 13.3% yoy at CC. Its EBIT margin was 16.0%, under pressure from projects start-up costs onsite and investment in its 5G and Industry 4.0 portfolio. ERS is, therefore, an healthy business with margins that should improve once the delivery of two ER&D mega-deals is transferred offshore.