India-based staffing provider Quess Corp reported revenue of INR 47.48 billion (USD 570.4 million) yesterday after markets closed for its second quarter period ended 30 September 2022. Revenue grew by 11% compared to the prior year period.

Commenting on the results, executive director & Group CEO Guruprasad Srinivasan said, “This growth is due to focused efforts over the last few quarters in developing greater automation in our platforms building operational efficiencies and focusing on high margin businesses.”

Revenue by segment

Workforce Management (WFM) saw a continued slowdown in perm recruitment hiring during the period. Workforce Management International has seen a steady performance in-spite of geopolitical factors, the group added. Headcount grew by 14% over the year with key driver sectors noted as BFSI (banking, financial services, insurance), retail & manufacturing.

Operating Asset Management (OAM) delivered 8% revenue growth. Industrials, education and healthcare continued to be the growth drivers. Headcount fell on account of rationalisation of low-margin customers across businesses.

In Global Technology Solutions (GTS), 73 new contracts were added during the quarter. Key sectors during the quarter include manufacturing, ITES, BFSI.

Within the Product Led Business, the group saw robust sales growth in Foundit (formerly Monster.com), up 35% over the year.

Srinivasan continued, “Our higher margin platforms, GTS and OAM have delivered a consistent increase in profitability along with improvement in margins over the last few quarters. Our wholly owned subsidiary AllSec has surpassed a market cap of 1,000+ crore (INR 10 billion, or USD 120.1 million) with a CAGR of 23% from our initial investment in 2019.”

“WFM platform continues to deliver steady growth despite global headwinds from IT sector. In product-led business, our investment in people, technology, and marketing activities continues. We remain bullish about future growth prospects and our consolidation efforts have started to yield positive results to help us realize non-linear profit growth from our all-weather business model,” Srinivasan said.

Last month Quess Corp announced it had received a tax demand for INR 3 billion (USD 36.0 million) for the assessment year 2019-2020. In a Bombay Stock Exchange filing, the group highlighted that the assessing officer in the assessment order did not provide TDS (tax deducted at source) credit of INR 1.04 billion (USD 12.5 million) due to the technical issues in the Income Tax portal. The group’s management stated it would take appropriate steps to challenge the assessment order with the appropriate forum.

Quess Corp Ltd shares closed today at INR 437.80 (USD 5.26), up 2.53% on the day and 29.70% above the 52 week low of INR 337.55 (USD 4.05) set on 28 March 2023. The company has a market cap of INR 63.38 billion (USD 761.18 million).