CRISIL Limited announces Unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021

The Board of Directors of CRISIL Ltd, at its meeting today, approved the unaudited financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2021.

CRISIL's consolidated income from operations for the quarter ended March 31, 2021, rose 15.8% to Rs 495.2 crore, compared with Rs 427.8 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous year. Consolidated total income for the quarter ended March 31, 2021, was up 11.0% to Rs 508.7 crore, compared with Rs 458.2 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Profit after tax for the quarter ended March 31, 2021, was Rs 83.5 crore, compared with Rs 88.1 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Foreign exchange loss for the quarter ended March 31, 2021, was Rs 4.7 crore compared with a gain of Rs 16.6 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The results for the quarter include full quarter financials of Greenwich Associates LLC, acquired in February 2020, as against one month's numbers considered in the same quarter of the previous year.

The Board of Directors declared an interim dividend of Rs 7 per share (of Re 1 face value) in the current quarter for the financial year ended December 31, 2021, compared with Rs 6 per share interim dividend declared during the quarter ended March 31, 2020.

Says Ashu Suyash, Managing Director & CEO, CRISIL, "During the quarter, we saw good business momentum across Ratings, Research and Analytics. Buoyant capital markets and new client acquisitions aided growth. Ongoing demand for traded and credit-risk offerings also helped. We continue to make investments in data and technology capabilities, and in ensuring that our people are able to navigate well through the pandemic and serve clients."

The first quarter of 2021 started with positive developments on vaccination roll-outs in a number of countries, including India. Domestically, recovery in economic activity remained uneven as manufacturing related sectors saw a relatively faster pick-up than services. However, there are concerns as Covid-19 cases have started to rise at a rapid pace. Banking credit growth is expected to be lower at ~5% as of March 2021 on a y-on-y basis as against a 6% growth a year back. Credit to micro, small and medium enterprises, and agriculture saw an uptick. Corporate credit, which forms nearly half of overall bank credit, did not see any growth as companies put capital expenditure on the backburner. Issuers tapping the debt capital market witnessed a decline of 41% and issuances in terms of quantum also saw a decrease of 18% in the first quarter on a y-o-y basis.

Against this backdrop, CRISIL Ratings saw a 6.2% revenue uptick, driven by strong surveillance fees and new client adds. Global Analytical Center grew by deepening coverage across practices, stepped up support for ESG offerings, and automation initiatives. Overall, the Ratings segment revenue grew 11.8% and profit 22.1% on-year.

India Research saw increased demand for data, research and analytics underpinned by uptick in capital market and industrial activity. In addition, new products such as alternative investment fund benchmarks and wealth tracker supported performance. Global Research and Risk Solutions growth was driven by existing and new mandates across transformation, change and regulatory offerings. The buy-side continued to have greater need for research from alternative asset managers in areas such as distressed and private debt. Performance of the corporate and investment banking industry continued to normalise, but higher costs, increased capital requirement and continued low margins impacted spends. Nonetheless, the Coalition Greenwich saw client wins in the US, Asia-Pacific and Europe during the quarter. Growth during the quarter was driven by Greenwich, which saw good traction for its voice-of-client analytics. The overall Research segment posted a healthy revenue growth of 18.1% during the quarter. However, adverse foreign exchange movement impacted segment margins.

The Advisory segment saw increased demand across government- and multilateral-supported programs in the infrastructure space as well as for its credit management and risk-monitoring solutions. This contributed to overall segment growth.

During the quarter, CRISIL was recognised at multiple forums such as with the ASSOCHAM Diversity and Inclusion Excellence Award, the CII HR Excellence Award and the NHRDN People First Ace Award. These awards validate our commitment towards being the employer of choice. Our stress-testing platform, Scenario Expansion Manager, won the Risk Markets Technology 2021 Award for Best Modelling Innovation, instituted by Risk.net.

During the quarter, we hosted the sixth edition of the Annual Bond Market Seminar with the theme, 'Bonds that build a nation'. The CRISIL Yearbook on The Indian Debt Market 2021 was also released at the event. The fifth edition of our flagship India Outlook seminar also saw strong participation. Through a series of topical webinars, publications and articles we ensured our perspectives and insights across a range of sectors such as media and entertainment, auto and components, organised retail, cement, roads and fertilisers were available to all stakeholders.

CRISIL Foundation, apart from sustained efforts on financial literacy and women empowerment through a host of programs, signed an agreement with the International Association for Human Values towards environmental conservation. The foundation continued to work with the Reserve Bank of India on money wise centers for financial literacy with the pilot for 25 centers across Haryana, Maharashtra and Rajasthan getting extended.

Shares of CRISIL LTD. was last trading in BSE at Rs.1897 as compared to the previous close of Rs. 1872.75. The total number of shares traded during the day was 5618 in over 1231 trades.

The stock hit an intraday high of Rs. 1920 and intraday low of 1790. The net turnover during the day was Rs. 10557879.

Source : Equity Bulls

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