SQL Star may look at more acquisitions

SQL Star International Limited, a Hyderabad-based knowledge, enterprise and e-governance services company, hinted that it may look at more acquisitions outside India in a year from now.

"We intend to first consolidate our operations and reap benefits from the acquisitions that we have made earlier, before pursuing one or two more acquisitions," NR Ganti, chairman and managing director of SQL Star, told Business Standard.

The size of the target companies doesn't matter. SQL will only look at their vast clientele base and high-end and relevant technologies that complement its existing lines of business, he said, indicating that the company is open to more acquisitions if something falls in its lap. He, however, refused to divulge more details.

SQL strengthened its service delivery portfolio in the US market by acquiring TalentFuse Inc, a San Diego-based IT consulting company for $6 million (around Rs 24 crore) in July this year.

In early 2006, it acquired the consulting business of US-based SolutionNet Group for an undisclosed sum.

With over 13 offices in India and wholly-owned subsidiaries in Australia, Singapore and the US, SQL Star employs around 11,00 professionals globally.

"We plan to augment our headcount by another 200 in the next six months, to cater to the services that are wrapped around our products," Ganti said.

These include Embinux, a complete embedded Linux platform specifically designed and optimised for wireless handsets, mobile phones and smart consumer electronics devices.

SQL had recently sold a perpetual licence to a US-based telecom major and the first part of the project is expected to be completed in six months.

The company reported a net profit of Rs 2.56 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2007, on a worldwide consolidated basis, compared with Rs 1.13 crore for the same quarter of the previous year, reflecting a growth of 127 per cent. Revenues increased 60.80 per cent to Rs 26.26 crore, as against Rs 16.33 crore.

"High business volumes and going into more value-added services in our stronghold areas "� knowledge services, enterprise services and e-governance "� helped us achieve significant revenues and profits during the quarter. We have already crossed the Rs 50-crore mark for the half year, and are hopeful of maintaining this upward swing and achieve a 40 per cent growth in revenues during the current financial year, as against Rs 70 crore last year," Ganti said.