MindTree decides to give EBITDA guidance, for the first time

In the wake of its lacklustre performance in the quarter ended December 31, 2008 due to a mark-to-market (M2M) losses to the tune of Rs 66.58 crore (on standalone basis) IT services firm MindTree, for the first time, has decided to give the EBITDA guidance for the fiscal 2009, apart from their revenue and PAT guidance.

The Bangalore-headquartered company, which posted about 95 per cent drop in its net profit to Rs 94 lakh in the third quarter of fiscal 2008-09, said the company expects its EBITDA for the fiscal to be in the range of Rs 249.7-Rs 257 crore.

However, the company said that the revenue and PAT guidance given earlier will remain unchanged. The company had earlier revised its revenue and net profit guidance for the FY09 to Rs 1,008.2-Rs 1,017.9 crore and Rs 59.5-Rs 67.7 crore, respectively.

"A feature of MindTree's results in the current year is that our EBITDA is running at records level, while our PAT has been depressed due to book provisions on account of MTM losses. Accordingly, for the first time, we decided to provide EBITDA guidance," the company said in a filing to the BSE today.

The company added that it maintained extra caution in giving the EBITDA guidance 'in view of the uncertainty in the external environment and other factors such as joining of campus hires'.