Krishna Suraj Moraje Appointed Group CEO Of Quess Corp

Posted by Quess Corp

Quess Corp has appointed McKinsey partner Krishna Suraj Moraje as its group chief executive officer designate effective November 4. Moraje is currently a senior partner at McKinsey & Company and a leader in the firm’s Asia TMT practice. He will take over from Subrata Nag as the group chief executive officer when he retires in 2020.

Moraje has over 20 years of experience in counseling institutions across sectors (including technology, IT services, financial services, telecom, utilities, consumer and media) on strategic, organizational, and operational issues. Previous roles include establishing the Firm’s African Tech Media and Telecoms practice, and transforming the Philippines Office as the managing partner for the country. He has also served on the Firm’s global new partner election committee. He holds a BE from National Institute of Technology in Surat, and a PGDM from the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad.

Backgrounder. Quess is headquartered in Bengaluru, and has a market cap of approx.Rs. 6,900 crore as of September 30th, 2019. Quess was founded by Ajit Abraham Isaac and was acquired by travel company Thomas Cook in 2013. Thomas Cook itself was acquired in 2012 by Fairfax, which is controlled by the India-born Watsa. The company says it provides its services to over 2,300 clients and employs over 3.7 lakh employees across India, North and South America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Some of its services include facility management, technology solutions, people services, and internet solutions.

In July, Amazon.com Inc. said it would invest Rs. 51 crore (around USD 7.4 million) in Quess. In a filing with stock exchanges, Quess said it would issue 7.54 lakh preferential shares to Amazon at Rs 676 apiece, translating to a 0.51 percent stake in the company for the United States-based online retailer.

Quess has also made acquisitions to add to its existing portfolio. For instance, in January last year, it acquired jobs portal Monster.com’s India, Southeast and West Asia units as well as HCL Infosystems Ltd after-sales services business for consumer electronics and mobile phones.

Quess currently holds 70 percent stake in Vedang. Board has approved the acquisition of incremental 18.7 percent stake for up to Rs. 10 crore. Post this transaction, Quess will own 88.7 percent stake in Vedang.

Then, in July in the same year, it received board approval to acquire the remaining 36 percent stake in Singapore-based staffing firm Comtel Solutions Pte. Ltd for USD 16.3 million (Rs 111 crore). It had originally acquired a 64 percent stake in Comtel Solutions for about USD 20 million in cash.

Quess had recently announced its financial results for the second quarter (Q2FY20) ended September 30, 2019.

The key consolidated financial parameters are(In Rs. crore):

Financial highlights (Q2 and H1FY20)

• Headcount grew 27 percent YoY for Q2FY20 and 35 percent YoY for H1FY20.
• Revenues grew 27 percent (organic growth of 23 percent) YoY on the back of the highest ever increase in employee headcount of 97,000, over the last four quarters.
• Quarterly EBITDA grew significantly by 44 percent YoY to Rs. 161 crore. EBITDA margins for H1FY20 improved by 84 bps YoY, to 6.12 percent.
• PAT of Rs. 65 crore during the quarter was higher by 5 percent YoY. Without the IndAS adjustments, the operating PAT was Rs. 70 crore, which was a 13 percent increase YoY.
• Cash flow from operations (OCF) stood at Rs. 117 crore for H1 FY20 as against Rs. 72 crore in H1FY19, a
  significant increase of 62 percent YoY.
• OCF/EBITDA conversion improved to 47 percent during H1 FY20 compared to 34 percent in H1FY19.
• Significant debt reduction of Rs. 375 crore achieved during the quarter. Gross debt at the end of the quarter
  stood at Rs.920 crore; Net debt stood at Rs. 272 crore.

―CT Bureau