Shares of Coforge Ltd will be in focus on Friday morning after Ajay Kalra relinquished the position as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the IT firm, citing pre-occupation and other personal commitments. The resignation came in ahead of the IT firm's Q3 results on January 22.
Coforge said Kalra will continue to be a full-time employee and a Senior Advisor to the company till July 10, 2024 an appointed Saurabh Goel as the CFO and key managerial personnel (KMP) with effect from January 5, 2024.
In his resignation letter, Kalra said he tendered his resignation due to personal reasons and to pursue other opportunities. He said while he is stepping down from the CFO position, he would stay as a employee in a advisory capacity with the organisation till July 10.
"We hereby inform you that Mr. Ajay Kalra, Chief Financial Officer (‘CFO’) of the company has relinquished the position of CFO of the Company due to personal reasons and to pursue other opportunities. He ceases to be a Key Managerial Personnel ('KMP') of the company under the provisions of Section 203 of the Companies Act, 2013 with effect from January 04, 2024. He will continue to be a full-time employee and a Senior Advisor to the Company till July 10, 2024," Coforge said.
In the case of Goel, he has been the Deputy CFO and Executive Vice President at Coforge. He has been responsible for investor relations, pricing, contracting, business finance, audit, investment programs and corporate treasury. Goel has been associated with Coforge for the last thirteen years and has an overall experience of nineteen years in the finance domain.
"Goel has been instrumental in driving the inorganic strategy of the firm over the last decade and driven the post-merger integration of all acquired entities over this period. Mr. Goel is one of the only two recipients of the highest Coforge Corporate Award – the Global Leadership Award – over the last ten years. He received this award in 2019. Mr. Goel joined the firm from Barclays in 2011," Coforge said.
Analysts said one would look for demand trends across Coforge's focused industries in Q3. They said investors would watch sales growth, and margin guidance update for Q4 and FY24, pricing/attrition trends, deal pipeline, FCF generation and capital allocation strategy.
"We expect dollar sales (excluding Fx) to grow 0.6 per cent QoQ (CC: 1 per cent) led by ramp up of deal wins to be partly compensated by seasonal furloughs. EBIT margins (ex. Fx) are expected to improve by 179bps qoq due to cost efficiencies, operating leverage and expected lower ESOP cost. Expect adjusted Ebitda (including Fx but excluding ESOP cost) margins to improve by around 102 bps QoQ to 18.6 per cent. We expect Fx gain through hedges vs. loss qoq. Expect healthy order intake to continue," Equirus Securities said.
Nomura India in it preview note said it would watch out for commentary on banking vertical, large deal wins and outlook on clients' 2024 discretionary spend.
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