Highlights for quarter and half year ended June 30, 2021:
- Income from operations for the quarter up 12.0% and for the half year up 13.8%
- PAT for the quarter up 51.9% and for the half year up 19.3%
- Interim dividend of Rs 8 per share recommended
The Board of Directors of CRISIL Ltd, at its meeting today, approved the unaudited financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2021.
CRISIL’s consolidated income from operations for the quarter ended June 30, 2021, rose 12.0% to Rs 528.5 crore, compared with Rs 471.8 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Consolidated total income for the quarter ended June 30, 2021, was up 13.7% to Rs 550.5 crore, compared with Rs 484.0 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Profit after tax for the quarter ended June 30, 2021, increased 51.9% to Rs 100.8 crore, compared with Rs 66.3 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
CRISIL’s consolidated income from operations for the half year ended June 30, 2021, rose 13.8% to Rs 1,023.7 crore, compared with Rs 899.6 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. Consolidated total income for the six months ended June 30, 2021, was up 12.4% to Rs 1,059.1 crore, compared with Rs 942.1 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. Profit after tax for the half year ended June 30, 2021, increased 19.3% to Rs 184.3 crore, compared with Rs 154.5 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.
The results for the period ended June 30, 2021, include six-month financials of Greenwich Associates LLC, acquired on February 26, 2020, as against four-month numbers considered in the same period of the previous year.
The Board of Directors declared an interim dividend of Rs 8 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 June 30, 2020.
Says Ashu Suyash, Managing Director & CEO, CRISIL, “Our well-diversified business mix, and relentless focus on analytical excellence and customer experience enabled strong growth despite the pandemic-driven upheaval. While new wins and renewals helped grow core areas, our new offerings across credit and non-financial risk are enabling us to tap into the emerging needs of clients. During the quarter, we also stepped up on employee care and safety in the wake of the second wave. As increasing coverage of vaccination leads the world out of the pandemic, our businesses are well-positioned to serve the growing needs for benchmarks, analytics and insights in India and globally.”
Consumption demand across sectors of the Indian economy saw impact during the reporting quarter due to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and consequent containment measures in various states. The quantum of bond issuances plunged 61% on-year, while the number of issuers dropped by a sharp 48%. Bank credit growth remained muted in both, the MSME and large-corporate sectors.
Amid the challenging credit landscape, revenue of Ratings was impacted, while the business continued to hold its leading position in the corporate bond market and added new clients during the quarter. On the new products front, the business saw traction across stressed assets and structured finance. The Global Analytical Centre continued its upward traction driven by increased coverage in analytical support, surveillance and transformation projects. Overall, the Ratings segment revenue de-grew 5.2%.
The Research segment had a strong quarter, growing its revenue by 20.2%, with all businesses in the segment delivering growth for the quarter. Global Research & Risk Solutions (GR&RS) saw good growth across model risk, traded risk, and non-financial risk. Buy-side research also saw uptick due to higher demand for research in alternative asset management.
With Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) industry’s performance normalising, Coalition-Greenwich saw acceleration in business momentum during the quarter. Growth for the business was further aided by traction in non-CIB offerings, especially for commercial banking. In the India Research business, growth was driven by continued demand for data, capital market-related insights and new products launched in funds and fixed-income. The business also launched Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) scores for 225 Indian corporates across 18 sectors, which was well received by the market.
The advisory segment witnessed robust revenue growth of 14.0% during the quarter from new wins and pipeline conversion. Our proprietary technology platforms in the Business Intelligence and Risk Solutions business continued to garner interest from clients.
During the first wave of the pandemic in 2020, CRISIL had moved to work-from-home and initiated a host of employee-safety and well-being measures.
Last quarter, as the pandemic’s impact intensified following the second wave, CRISIL stepped up employee support through measures including hospitalisation facilitation, financial and emotional assistance initiatives, provision of oxygen equipment, and facilitation of vaccinations.
The quarter saw steady activity on franchise and thought leadership. ESG India Leadership Summit was hosted during the quarter which saw release of compendium ‘ESG Gauge’. CRISIL also unveiled its ESG commitment statement at the event, available here. Webinars and roundtables in diverse areas such as ESG reporting standards, transaction banking, climate risk, renewable energy and stress testing were held, which saw very good response.
With the second wave of pandemic creating acute shortage of oxygen devices, CRISIL Foundation launched Project ‘Oxygen for All’. Through employee donations and matching contributions, oxygen cylinders and concentrators were procured for those in need across several cities. CRISIL Foundation also continues to expand coverage under its flagship program for financial literacy, ‘Mein Pragati’.