OPM was higher by 150 bps to 29% which resulted in OP growth of 10% to Rs 121.88 crore.

The Rating service business segmental PBIDT margin stood at 33% as compared to 26% for Mar 17 quarter and PBIDT thus stood at Rs 38.26 crore, up by 26% YoY. Research segment PBIDT stood at Rs 84.89 crore up by 2%, with margins at 31% as compared to 31% YoY. Advisory service segment reported a segmental PBIDT of Rs 3.43 crore for Mar 18 quarter up by 853% YoY with segmental PBIDT margin at 11%.

Other income was flat at Rs 6.98 crore for Mar 18 quarter. The other income for Mar 18 quarter includes forex gain of Rs 2.31 crore as compared to forex loss of Rs 11.89 crore for Mar 17 quarter which is included in other expenses. Depreciation was down by 18% to Rs 10.48 crore and thus, PBT stood at Rs 117.85 crore up by 12%. After providing total tax of Rs 35.64 crore, up by 9%, consolidated PAT for Mar 18 quarter of the company stood at Rs 82.21 crore, which was up by 14% on YoY basis.

Ashu Suyash, Managing Director & CEO, CRISIL, said, "Our pursuit of innovation by leveraging technology is beginning to generate greater business traction. Also, focused outreach has enabled client wins across geographies and businesses. Overall, margins have improved owing to greater efficiencies and cost control."

Other updates

Through 2017, sharp focus on tech-enabled products to serve emerging needs of clients in India and globally resulted in many new offerings and launches across businesses. The shift, backed by innovation, technology and cutting-edge analytics, has generated positive market response.

The launch of smefirst.com and CRISIL Credit Assessment Scores (CCAS) enabled the shift of the SME Ratings business to an end-to-end digital experience. The Global Research and Analytics (GR&A) business leveraged tech-enabled platforms SPARC (Shared Platform for Assessing Risk of Counterparties) and SMART (Simple, Modular, Analytics & Research Toolkit) to expand client base. Quantix, the cross-sector data analytics platform, delivered new clients for the India Research business.

For existing product offerings, CRISIL continued to focus on enhancing value proposition and strengthening client outreach to drive revenue growth. CRISIL Coalition strengthened its presence in the corporate and investment banking industry. India Research continued to add clients in the domestic market, while the Infrastructure Advisory business enhanced footprint in south-east Asia and Africa. GR&A tapped new client segments to serve emerging regulatory needs.

However, growth was partially offset by a restrained domestic capital market, where a significant decline in corporate bond issuances affected the ratings business. Focus, therefore, has been sharper on tapping opportunities in the bank loan ratings segment.

CRISIL has also completed the acquisition of Pragmatix Services Pvt Ltd (Pragmatix). During the quarter, Pragmatix added clients in North America and enhanced its new-generation platform Fulkrum to serve emerging opportunities in India and globally.

Franchise events saw excellent participation and coverage during the quarter. CRISIL, in collaboration with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), launched CriSidEx, India's first sentiment index for micro and small enterprises (MSE). This was followed by the fourth edition of CRISIL Inclusix, India's unique financial inclusion index.

Consolidated Performance for the 12 months ended Dec 17

Crisil reported consolidated net sales of Rs 1661.07 crore, up by 7% YoY for 12 months ended Dec 17.

Rating service business which constitute around 29% of total revenue was up by 3% on YoY to Rs 48029 crore, while Research services which forms around 65% of total revenue, was up by 8% YoY to Rs 1080.39 crore. Advisory service business also was higher by 29% to Rs 97.78 crore.

OPM however was lower by 100 bps to 27.6% which restricted the OP growth to 3% to Rs 457.68 crore. The Rating service business segmental PBIDT margin stood at 31% as compared to 31% for 12 months ended Dec 16 and PBIDT thus stood at Rs 151.20 crore, up by 6% YoY. Research segment PBIDT stood at Rs 308.46 crore, down by 5% on YoY basis, with margins at 29%. Advisory service segment reported a segmental PBIDT of Rs 9.24 crore for 12 months ended Dec 17, as compared to loss of Rs 0.69 crore for 12 months ended Dec 16, with segmental PBIDT margin at 9%.

Other income was lower by 53% to Rs 22.98 crore. There was a forex loss of around Rs 15 crore for 12 months ended Dec 17 which is included in other expenditure as compared to forex gain of Rs 9.5 crore for 12 months ended Dec 16 which is included in other income.

Depreciation was down by 14% to Rs 46.64 crore and thus, PBT stood at Rs 433.61 crore down by 1%. After providing total tax of Rs 129.18 crore, down by 10%, consolidated PAT for 12 months ended Dec 17 of the company stood at Rs 304.43 crore, which was up by 3% on YoY basis.

The company declares an interim dividend of Rs 6 per equity share of face value of Rs 1 each.