Persistent Systems to file draft red prospectus

Pune: Completion of the ongoing projects, similar growth pattern and re-filing the Draft Red Herring Prospectus for the IPO is the road map that Persistent Systems, player in the outsourced product development has chalked out for itself for the current fiscal.

Talking to presspersons, Dr Anand Deshpande, Chairman and Managing Director, Persistent Systems, said the ongoing project at the Hyderabad SEZ which had started recently would be completed by January 2009. He said the incubation space would be ready by June. Currently, the Hyderabad operations have around 100 people which would touch 1,000 when the facility becomes fully operational.

The other two locations, Hinjewadi in Pune and Nagpur, would also be completed according to the time frame, he said. About half the infrastructure has been completed at the Pune facility which is located at the first phase of the IT park.

The second half would be completed by the end of this year and can house about 2,900 employees. The Nagpur facility would have about 1,200 people once fully operational.

Dr Deshpande, looking at the financials of the year 2007-08, said the company had recorded revenues of $105.80 million as against $69.92 million for the corresponding previous year, registering a growth of 51.3 per cent.

He said revenue in terms of rupee value for fiscal 2008 was Rs 424.80 crore as against Rs 315.62 crore for the corresponding previous fiscal, a growth of 34.6 per cent.

Profit after tax stood at Rs 83.71 crore for fiscal 2008 (Rs 55.57 crore), a growth of 49.8 per cent.

Asked about the status of the IPO, Dr Deshpande said it had been cleared in December 2007 and the company had tried to get it listed. “But the market conditions were bad and did not get listed. We will be filing the DRHP again and the first opportunity we would do it. The market continues to be volatile and hence we cannot put an exact date on when the IPO would happen,” he added.