PERSISTENT

** Persistent Systems PERS.NS rises ~2%; sole gainer on Nifty IT .NIFTYIT index

** CLSA upgrades to "high-conviction outperform", with PT of 9,267 rupees - 79% upside to Monday's close

** Says PERS best-positioned IT co due to its generative AI capabilities and high exposure to fast-growing product engineering segment

** Sees large Salesforce CRM.N implementation, which makes co among key beneficiaries of Salesforce's agentic AI launch, and multiple margin levers among key positives for PERS

** Expects rev, PAT CAGR of 21% and 27% respectively, in FY25-FY27

** NIFTYIT falls 2% on U.S. recession fears; Indian IT cos earn significant portion of revenue from U.S.

** YTD, PERS loses ~19% vs NIFTYIT's 15% drop

(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M)

(([email protected];))

** India's Persistent Systems PERS.NS climbs 2.7% to 5,679.45 rupees

** Stock set to snap a six-session losing run, if gains hold

** JP Morgan says it prefers the IT services firm due to its ability of navigating tough macro environment and "coming out with flying colors"

** Brokerage sees PERS as the fastest growing company in its coverage over FY25-FY27

** Adds that PERS' success vs peers is due to its smaller size and 1-2 large deal wins can skew positive outcomes significantly

** Winning large deals at the right time will continue to aid PERS to drive sector-leading growth - JPM

** Brokerage retains its "overweight" rating on stock with PT of 7,200 rupees

** PERS among seven stocks rated "hold" on 10-member IT index .NIFTYIT - according to data compiled by LSEG

** YTD, stock down 12% vs IT index's 4.4% decline

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]))

Feb 13 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• PERSISTENT SYSTEMS LTD - PERSISTENT SYSTEMS POLAND ENTERS ASSET PURCHASE AGREEMENT WITH SOHO DRAGON

• PERSISTENT SYSTEMS - TOTAL PURCHASE CONSIDERATION $2.01 MILLION, INCLUDES $1.07 MILLION UPFRONT PAYMENT

• PERSISTENT SYSTEMS LTD - ASSETS INCLUDE SELECT EMPLOYEES AND CONTRACTORS

Source text: ID:nNSE88dTtB

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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** Shares of IT services provider Persistent Systems PERS.NS rise 10.7% to 6,293.60 rupees, their biggest one-day gain since Oct. 23, 2024

** Co among top gainers on Nifty IT index .NIFTYIT, which is up 1.9%

** Co's Q3 consol PAT rises 30.4% to 3.73 billion rupees ($43.18 million); rev. up 22.6%

** Unlike previous few quarters, growth was broad-based across verticals/geographies - Emkay Research

** More than 2.4 mln shares traded, nearly 5 times the 30-day avg.

** Analysts' avg. rating on stock is "hold" same as that on peers Mphasis MBFL.NS and HCL Technologies HCLT.NS; median PT is 5,970 rupees - LSEG data

** Stock rose 74% in 2024 vs 22% gain in Nifty IT index

($1 = 86.3880 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Aleef Jahan in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]))

Jan 22 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• DIVIDEND OF 20 RUPEES PER SHARE

• DEC-QUARTER CONSOL PROFIT 3.73 BILLION RUPEES

• DEC-QUARTER CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 30.62 BILLION RUPEES

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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Jan 15 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• LAUNCHES CONTRACTASSIST USING MICROSOFT 365 COPILOT

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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Jan 6 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• PERSISTENT SYSTEMS LTD - TO ACQUIRE ASSETS OF SOHO DRAGON SOLUTIONS

• PERSISTENT SYSTEMS LTD - TOTAL PURCHASE CONSIDERATION FOR ACQUISITION IS $5.94 MILLION

Source text: ID:nBSE6lSy4D

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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** Shares of IT services provider Persistent Systems PERS.NS rise as much as 12.4% to hit record high of 5,798.70 rupees

** Co on Tuesday reported a 23.4% YoY rise in Q2 consolidated profit and rev from ops rose 20.1%

** 17 out of 29 analysts raised their PT since Tuesday, including top-rated ICICI Securities, PhillipCapital (India) - LSEG data

** Co's median PT lifted by 14.7% from last month to 5,200 rupees - LSEG data

** Co and Coforge COFO.NS, with more than 10% rise, are top pct gainers on Nifty IT index .NIFTYIT, which is up 3%

** Stock marks sharpest intraday pct gain since Sept. 14, 2020

** More than 1.5 mln shares change hands, 3.8x the 30-day avg

** Stock last up 11.1%, bumping YTD gains to 55.1%

(Reporting by Ashish Chandra in Bengaluru)

(([email protected] (+91 7982114624))

Oct 22 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• SEPT-QUARTER CONSOL PROFIT 3.25 BILLION RUPEES

• SEPT-QUARTER CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 28.97 BILLION RUPEES

Source text for Eikon: ID:nNSE8Gcgzw

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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Oct 8 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• ACHIEVES CARBON NEUTRALITY A YEAR AHEAD OF TARGET

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSEFLLFY

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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Sept 30 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• PERSISTENT SYSTEMS - TO ACQUIRE ARRKA INFOSEC

• PERSISTENT SYSTEMS - COST OF ACQUISITION OF ARRKA IS 144 MILLION RUPEES

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSET1fXm

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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** Shares of Persistent Systems PERS.NS down 5.9% at 4,605 rupees; top loser in IT index .NIFTYIT, which is up 0.5%

** IT services provider reports 30.4% rise in PAT, but EBIT margins are below some analysts' expectations

** Margin disappoints despite superior growth and growth continues to be lop sided, Axis Capital analysts says

** Stock up 25% YTD vs 13.5% gains in Nifty IT index

(Reporting by Sethuraman NR in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]; (+91 9945291420); Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))

July 18 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• Q1 CONSOL PROFIT 3.06 BILLION RUPEES

• Q1 CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 27.37 BILLION RUPEES

Source text for Eikon: ID:nNSE2hcS70

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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July 3 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• PERSISTENT SYSTEMS-UNIT ENTERS INTO STOCK PURCHASE AGREEMENT FOR ACQUISITION OF STARFISH ASSOCIATES

• PERSISTENT SYSTEMS LTD - ACQUISITION OF STARFISH IS $20.7 MILLION

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE6ZDjr6

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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June 11 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• ENTERS STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT TO DRIVE INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS POWERED BY GOOGLE CLOUD

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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June 6 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• LAUNCHES GENAI HUB FOR NEW ERA OF ENTERPRISE AI ADOPTION

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE6DlGcV

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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By Sai Ishwarbharath B

BENGALURU, May 22 (Reuters) - Mid-tier firms in India's $254 billion information technology sector took market share from industry goliaths in recent quarters as clients curtailed discretionary spending amid inflationary pressures and economic uncertainty, analysts said.

Unlike their larger rivals such as Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS and Infosys INFY.NS, mid-tier IT firms tend to focus on short-term deals aimed at helping clients cut costs rather than chase large-scale projects.

The practice has paid off in an environment of slowing demand in prominent markets such as North America and Europe.

LTIMindtree LTIM.NS, Coforge COFO.NS, Mphasis MBFL.NS and Persistent Systems PERS.NS are "increasingly viewed as challengers in (winning) Fortune 500 accounts, aiding the share gain process," Kotak Institutional Equities said.

The smaller companies could outperform their larger rivals further once discretionary spending improves, Kotak analysts Kawaljeet Saluja, Sathishkumar S and Vamshi Krishna said.

This should set the mid-tier IT firms up well as they try to win more budget-conscious clients in an economic backdrop where U.S. interest rates are expected to stay "higher for longer". Industry body Nasscom estimated overall revenue growth more than halved to 3.8% last financial year.

"In the current macro environment, clients are increasingly looking at service providers (that) deliver services at lower and predictable costs with better business outcomes," said Avinash Baliga, partner at consulting firm Avasant.

Persistent Systems CEO Sandeep Kalra and Mphasis CFO Manish Dugar confirmed the market share gains. India's larger IT firms did not respond to Reuters' requests seeking comment.

"We are able to hold our own and win against the larger piers as clients are looking for competency and not scale," Dugar told Reuters.

The market share of India's top five IT firms fell 17 basis points in 2023, reflecting the inroads made by the mid-tier IT firms, according to BNP Paribas data shared exclusively with Reuters. However, the top five IT firms still owned 88.35% of the market as of December 2023 among the top 10 firms.

On the stock market, share prices of Mphasis and Persistent Systems advanced 23.7% and 42.5% respectively in the last 12 months compared to a 16% gain in the broader Nifty IT Index.

In April, Infosys forecast fiscal 2025 revenue growth between 1% and 3% in constant currency terms, while most analysts had expected it to be at least in the range of 2% to 5%.

"Due to the sheer size they have reached, larger players have given muted guidance," said Ashok Soota, founder of mid-tier IT firm Happiest Minds Technologies HAPP.NS , which also gained market share. "We need to be humble about this as (our) market share is (relatively) small on the grand total."

(Reporting by Sai Ishwarbharath B; Editing by Dhanya Skariachan and Shri Navaratnam)

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** Persistent Systems PERS.NS tumbles 9.7% to a 4-month low, moving into the red YTD

** PERS top loser in Nifty IT .NIFTYIT index in stock's busiest day in 3 months

** Software services provider's Q4 EBIT margin contracts to 14.5% from 15.4% a yr ago

** However, profit grew 25.4% and rev increased ~15% in Q4

** Stock now down 4.6% YTD, moving into the red for the year after having been the highest-gaining IT stock as of Friday

** However, stock is up 5.5% YTD on a total returns basis, still the best-performing on 10-member IT index

** PERS trades at 42.3x next 12-month earnings, highest on index

(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru)

(([email protected];))

March 7 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• PERSISTENT SYSTEMS LTD - ANNOUNCED LAUNCH OF SASVA, AN ENTERPRISE AI PLATFORM

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE3885Qz

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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Feb 27 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• PERSISTENT SYSTEMS LTD - PERSISTENT SYSTEMS S.R.L, ITALY HAS BEEN DISSOLVED

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE775Q3Y

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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Changes headline, recasts paragraph 1, and adds chart of historic weightage data of India and China in MSCI Global Standard index

By Bharath Rajeswaran

BENGALURU, Feb 13 (Reuters) - India has narrowed the gap with China in MSCI's Global Standard index, which tracks emerging market stocks for investors, after the latest revision.

Index provider MSCI raised India's weightage in the index to an all-time high of 18.2% on Tuesday, which could lead to inflows of about $1.2 billion, analysts said.

In comparison, China's weight in the index fell to 25.4% after the February revision, from 26.6% a year ago.

The convergence of weights between Indian and Chinese stocks has intensified since August 2020, when China's weightage was five times that of India's.

MSCI's revisions will come into effect after market close on Feb. 29. Indian shares had a 17.9% weight on the index ahead of the February review.

The gain for India can be attributed to a sustained rally in equities and relative underperformance of other emerging markets, especially China, Nuvama Alternative & Quantitative Research said in a note on Tuesday.

India could surpass a 20% weight on the MSCI index by early 2024, on consistent flows from domestic institutional investors and steady foreign portfolio investor participation, Nuvama said.

MSCI added five Indian stocks to its Global Standard index and did not move any out. In contrast, the index provider removed 66 Chinese stocks while adding five.

India's state-owned lenders Punjab National Bank PNBK.NS and Union Bank of India UNBK.NS were added to the large-cap category, while Bharat Heavy Electricals BHEL.NS and NMDC NMDC.NS were included in the mid-cap category. GMR Airports Infrastructure GMRI.NS was moved to the mid-cap category from small-caps.

India could witness up to $1.2 billion of passive foreign flows after the February review, Nuvama said.

About 27 small-cap stocks were added to the MSCI Domestic index, while six were either moved to other categories or removed.

Tata Motors TAMO.NS and Macrotech Developers MACE.NS were added to the domestic index under the large-cap category while Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank CNBK.NS and Embassy Office Park REIT EMBA.NS to the mid-caps.

Bharat Heavy Electricals BHEL.NS, Persistent Systems PERS.NS, MRF MRF.NS, Suzlon Energy SUZL.NS and Cummins India CUMM.NS were moved to the mid-cap index from small-caps.

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Mrigank Dhaniwala)

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** Shares of Persistent Systems PERS.NS rise 10% to record high of 8,713.7 rupees

** PERS is the top gainer on the Nifty IT index .NIFTYIT, which is up 1.1%

** Software services provider reported a 20.3% Y/Y rise in profit, beating analysts estimates; rev rose 15.2%

** Stock on track for a fifth consecutive session of gains; sees busiest day since Dec. 15, 2023

** Avg rating of 29 analysts close to equivalent of "hold"; median PT is 6,780 rupees - LSEG

($1 = 83.1025 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Navamya Ganesh Acharya in Bengaluru)

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Jan 4 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• PERSISTENT ANNOUNCES COLLABORATION AGREEMENT WITH AWS TO ACCELERATE GENERATIVE AI ADOPTION

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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Dec 8 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• ON REPORT CO IN TALKS TO ACQUIRE NSE'S IT ARM, SAYS DOES NOT COMMENT ON SPECULATIVE NEWS

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE37K0Lb

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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Updates share price, adds CFO comment, bullet points

By Bianca Flowers and Shivansh Tiwary

Nov 22 (Reuters) - Deere & Co DE.N forecast 2024 profits below analysts' expectations on Wednesday, saying high borrowing costs and tighter budgets will likely dent demand for the farm equipment maker's agriculture and construction machinery.

Deere, a barometer for the global economy, predicted a downturn in agriculture and construction equipment sales across all of its regions for the fiscal year ahead, validating analysts' concern that demand may have peaked for big industrial companies.

"We all believed that the market was getting softer, but not this soft," said Stephen Volkmann, senior machinery analyst at Jefferies.

Shares for the world's largest farm equipment were down 5% on Wednesday. The company now expects 2024 net income between $7.75 billion and $8.25 billion, far below the consensus for $9.33 billion, according to LSEG data.

The heavy equipment maker's net income for the quarter rose to $2.37 billion, or $8.26 per share, topping the consensus of $7.47 per share.

Despite beating Wall Street profit estimates, the Illinois-based manufacturer's stock slump mirrors peers such as Caterpillar CAT.N that also outperformed forecasts.

Executives on a conference call told investors that Deere intends to cut farm equipment production and said "shifting agriculture market dynamics" will lead to a decline in demand.

The company has been bullish on growth in South America but elevated inflation in the region and weakening commodity prices, particularly in Brazil, are weighing on farmers' decision to purchase or upgrade machinery.

"We experienced industry demand weaken much faster than expected in the second half of the year," Deere Chief Financial Officer Joshua Jepsen said.

Persistent inflation dragged on consumer appetite for big-ticket items, causing dealer inventories to rise and order activity to tail off. Experts say weaker consumer sentiment is a sign Americans are being more frugal, including farmers.

Net farm income is forecast to decline 18% from a year ago, according to the Agriculture Department.

Sales for production and precision agriculture products for crop care such as fertilizers and applicators have consistently outpaced other equipment divisions, but revenue for the segment fell 6% from the year prior. Net sales for its precision ag portfolio are expected to be down 15%-20% next year.

Sales from equipment operations declined to $13.8 billion from $14.35 billion a year ago.

Total net sales and revenue fell about 1% to $15.41 billion for the fourth quarter ended on Oct. 31.

(Reporting by Shivansh Tiwary in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva, Jan Harvey, Louise Heavens and Mark Porter)

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Adds statistics agency sub-director quote in paragraph 3, analyst quote in paragraph 7

By Carlos Vargas and Nelson Bocanegra

BOGOTA, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Colombia's economy shrank 0.3% in the third quarter from the year-earlier period, the government's DANE statistics agency said on Wednesday.

The result came in below market expectations of 0.5% in a Reuters poll last week and the central bank technical team's 0.4% forecast.

"Negative values for GDP had not presented themselves since the era of the pandemic," said Leonardo Trujillo, sub-director of government statistics agency DANE, confirming the year-on-year figure was the first quarterly contraction since the fourth quarter of 2020.

The contraction between July and September was driven by an 8% decline in construction, while manufacturing and commerce shrank by 6.2% and 3.5% respectively, Trujillo said in a press conference.

Public administration, including health, education and defense, grew by 5.3%, while entertainment and recreation expanded by 4.9%. The mining sector also grew by 3.5%, DANE said.

Private investment in the quarter plummeted by 33.5% versus the year-earlier period.

"The number is really bad, it could definitely result in the central bank thinking about starting to cut interest rates in December," said Sergio Olarte, chief economist for Scotiabank in Colombia.

The economy grew by 0.2% compared with the second quarter of 2023, DANE added.

The agency held its first-quarter economic growth result at 3%, but revised its second-quarter result to 0.4%, from 0.3% previously.

The central bank's technical team last month raised its economic growth forecast for 2023 to 1.2%, from 0.9% previously, as the bank's board held the interest rate at 13.25% for the fourth consecutive time.

Finance Minister Ricardo Bonilla, who represents the government on the bank's board, predicted last week that 2023 growth will handily surpass market expectations and reach 1.8%, citing public works, housing construction and a program for agriculture as key growth drivers.

Persistent inflationary pressure has driven the bank to hike the interest rate by 1,150 basis points between September 2021 to April this year.

Twelve-month consumer price growth slowed to 10.48% in October. Full-year inflation in 2022 was 13.12%.

($1 = 3,963.57 Colombian pesos)

(Reporting by Carlos Vargas, Nelson Bocanegra and Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by David Gregorio
Writing by Oliver Griffin)

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** Shares of Persistent Systems PERS.NS rise 3.93% to 5940.1 rupees

** IT company posts better-than-expected Q2 revenue, aided by strong deal wins

** PERS reiterates confidence in strong growth in second-half of FY24, in contrast to larger peers Infosys INFY.NS, HCL Tech HCLT.NS and Wipro WIPR.NS

** PERS to deliver PAT CAGR of 16% over FY23-FY25 - brokerage Motilal Oswal

** Motilal sees deal wins supporting strong growth of PERS in second-half of FY24

** PERS among top gainers in IT index .NIFTYIT, which is trading flat in a weak market; Nifty 50 down 0.5%

** Including today's gains, PERS up ~53% so far in 2023, compared to 10.5% rise in IT index

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]; +91 9769003463))

Oct 18 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• Q2 CONSOL PROFIT 2.63 BILLION RUPEES; REFINITIV IBES EST. 2.59 BILLION RUPEES

• Q2 CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 24.12 BILLION RUPEES

• Q2 CONSOL PROFIT 2.2 BILLION RUPEES; REVENUE 20.49 BILLION RUPEES

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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July 31 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• PERSISTENT SYSTEMS - PERSISTENT LAUNCHES GENERATIVE AI SOLUTIONS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH GOOGLE CLOUD

Source text for Eikon: ID:nNSETdB5d

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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** Shares of Persistent Systems PERS.NS fall as much as 4.14% to 4,835.15 rupees after missing profit view in June-quarter on rising costs

** PERS among top losers in information technology (IT) index .NIFTYIT, which is down 3.25%

** Software services provider posted 8.1% Y/Y rise in profit to 2.29 bln rupees ($27.9 mln), lower than estimates of 2.74 bln rupees, while rev from ops rose 23.6%

** Trading volume is 484,923 shares as of 10:51 a.m. IST, 1.4x the 30-day avg - Refinitiv data

** Of the 30 analysts tracking PERS, nine maintain "strong buy", eight "buy", six "hold", four "sell" and three recommend "strong sell"; median TP is 5134 rupees

** PERS up 25% in 2023 so far this year, compared to 5% gain for IT index

($1 = 82.0300 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]; +91 9769003463))