The Hindu Business Line : Satyam plans expansion; may raise $100 m capex

Satyam Computer Services Ltd plans to expand operations across several cities and is likely to scale up capex from $75 million to $100 million (about Rs 450 crore) this year.

The company is poised to end this financial year with a headcount of 36,000-plus people. It has acquired a 50-acre site in Chennai and about 180 acres more in four other locations including Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Nagpur.

Addressing shareholders at the company's 19th annual general meeting, the Founder and Chairman of Satyam, Mr B. Ramalinga Raju, said the company has charted out a growth path that seeks to build on innovation and collaborative leadership.

`Beyond a Billion'

Building on the punch line `Beyond a Billion', Mr Raju said the company has broadbased its growth across verticals and managed to combine this with geographic expansion. Continued reduction in the contribution of top 10 customers has helped in de-risking the business model. The company expects to ramp up its China operations.

The Chief Financial Officer, Mr V. Srinivas, said the company could witness a capex of $100 million this year as it will acquire about 230 acres across various locations

1:1 bonus offer

The shareholders passed a resolution that enhances the capital from Rs 75 crore to Rs 160 crore. They were rewarded with a 1:1 bonus offer.

On the acquisitions, Mr Srinivas said: "we are not looking at large acquisitions as merger poses a big challenge. The focus is on smaller boutique companies with specialised skills.''

From about 85 per cent of the business from the US a few years ago, it has been brought down to 64 per cent, and business from other geographies was increasing.

Answering shareholders' queries, Mr Raju declined to make any forward-looking statement about when the company would hit the $2-billion mark.

Referring to the customer base, Mr Srinivas said in the last three years, the number of customers with $1 million and above has increased from 55 to 144, those with $5 million and above from 20 to 51 and $10 million and above from 9 to 22.

The company has about 1.5 lakh individual shareholders and the returns on their investments have been phenomenal.

For an investor who has invested about Rs 1 lakh in 1994, the shares are worth a whopping Rs 8 crore today. It has a market capitalisation of Rs 25,000 crore.

The scrip ended the day at Rs 800.50 on the BSE as against previous close of Rs 792.85.

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