Firstsource Solutions hardens on new contract

Firstsource Solutions gained 1.88% to Rs 51.35 at 10:49 IST on BSE, after the company said it has signed a five year outsourcing partnership agreement with Barclays PLC, United States for its credit card business.

The company made this announcement before trading hours today, 8 February 2008.

Meanwhile, BSE Sensex was down 136.46 points or 0.78% to 17,390.47.

On BSE, 1.87 lakh shares were traded in the counter. The scrip had an average daily volume of 6.40 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 53 and a low of Rs 51.10 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 93.45 on 15 May 2007 and a 52-week low of Rs 45.40 on 22 January 2008.

The mid-cap scrip had underperformed the market over the past one month till 7 February 2008, declining 33.42% compared to the Sensex's decline of 16.02%. It had also underperformed the market in the past one quarter, declining 25.06% compared to Sensex's decline of 7.30%.

The company's current equity is Rs 427.11 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

The current price of Rs 51.35 discounts its Q3 December 2007 annualized EPS of Rs 1.39, by a PE multiple of 36.94.

The contract is valued at $80 million. Firstsource will manage and operate Barclays operations center in Colorado Springs and provide customer care and collections support to its US cardholders.

The partnership to expected to provide Barclays with increased operational efficiency and flexibility, and help both companies support their expanding operations in the US.

Firstsource Solutions' net profit declined 3.7% to Rs 14.89 crore on 5.8% growth in net sales to Rs 127.29 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q2 September 2007.

Firstsource is among India's leading business process outsourcing (BPO) companies providing business process management services to global leaders in banking & financial services, telecom & media and healthcare