Globant Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
August 17, 2023

There are 19 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good day, and welcome to Globant's Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. I'm Arturo Langa, Head of Investor Relations at Globant. You have just seen our latest spot, showcasing our experience in artificial intelligence for today's market. In our call today, all participants on this call will be on listen only mode. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions.

Operator

Please note this event is being recorded and streamed live on YouTube. By now, you should have received a copy of the earnings release. If you have not, a copy is available on our website, investors. Globant.com. Our speakers today are Martin Migoya, Co Founder and Chief Executive Officer Juan Urthiague, Chief Financial Officer Patricia Pomias, Chief Operating Officer and Diego Tartara, Chief Technology Officer.

Operator

Before we begin, I would like to remind you that some of our comments on our call today may be deemed forward looking statements. This includes our business and financial outlook and the answer to some of your questions. Such statements are subject to the risks and uncertainties as described in the company's earnings release and other filings with the SEC. Please note that we follow IFRS accounting rules in our financial statements. During our call today, we will report non IFRS or adjusted measures, which is how we track performance internally and the easiest way to compare Globant to our peers in the industry.

Operator

You will find a reconciliation of IFRS and non IFRS measures At the end of the press release, we published on our Investor Relations website announcing this quarter's results. I'd like now to turn the call over to Martin Migoya, our CEO.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Arturo. Good afternoon, everyone. I am Martin Migoya's digital twin. The real Martin, Diego, Pato and Juan will join you afterwards for the Q and A. We're speaking to you today from Sydney, where we have come to connect with our local team As we continue our expansion in new markets, as well as to meet clients and partners at the FIFA Women's World Cup, Of which Globant is a proud global sponsor.

Speaker 1

For transparency, there will be a notice at the bottom of the screen every time we appear or use any AI engine. We are happy to be with you again to discuss another great quarter. With our strong fundamentals, expanding array of solutions and platforms, And greater leverage of our global delivery network, we aim to continue to outpace our industry. In Q2, Total revenue was $497,500,000 It is the highest quarterly revenue in our history, Representing 15.9% year over year growth and 5.3% quarter over quarter growth. This has been made possible by the comprehensive relevance, scope and depth of our offering, combined with the expertise, creativity and dedication of our Globers.

Speaker 1

We're seeing strong sequential growth into the second half of the year, providing us with encouraging signs as we start thinking about 2024. We are also optimistic about the growth of our addressable market, estimated to reach up to $8,900,000,000,000 by 2,030. According to the report, Digital Transformation Market Forecast 2023,030 released by Fortune Business Insights this year. At Globant, our vision is to provide the best AI and digital transformations in the world. And we want to do it through reinventing our technology Professional Services Industry.

Speaker 1

We work every day to ensure our clients stay relevant with the latest technologies, constantly innovating the way we provide these solutions, While being kind to our planet, to our peers, to humanity and to ourselves. Clients that choose Globant are not only picking an AI and digital partner to fulfill their dreams, but innovation itself, a new way to create and build technology with transparency and absence of nonsense to you some of the innovations that separate Globant from our competitors. First, our inverted organizational chart and the autonomy of our agile pods, Each with its own name, charter, mission and proud identity as a team. It's the job of our whole management to support them in their success. 2nd, our studios.

Speaker 1

These deep pockets of expertise have been central to our value offering on the latest technologies and their applications to particular industries. Our array of studios has grown over time as we widen the scope of our services. To improve the synergy, we have now organized them into 4 studio networks: digital, reinvention, enterprise and create. Doing so will foster better collaboration among our studios as we continue to scale. 3rd, the company wide use of AI, Both for our internal processes and in the solutions we create.

Speaker 1

And finally, our platforms, AI powered software products that solve true challenges of our industry. In the AI space, we continue to leverage our expertise to expand services in order to meet the increasing demand. Late last year, with the widespread interest in generative AI caused by new tools such as Chat GPT, We started to engage with our clients to help them embrace this technology quickly. Our teams worked closely with many of them to create a comprehensive map of initiatives To reinvent their businesses. Then we translated these initiatives into proof of concepts that could be applied To achieve specific KPIs and expand their businesses.

Speaker 1

Now many of these are becoming real life solutions that can be scaled globally and implemented company wide. In particular, we see 2 types of solutions. First is what we call augmented knowledge. The capability to interact with unstructured data in a conversational way. Skilled professionals such as those in law or in finance will be able to access large amounts of data and quickly interpret it so that they can make better, More informed decisions.

Speaker 1

And second is a field we call Converse AI, which allows an end user to interact with a transactional system In a conversational way. There are many relevant applications that can speed up the way we connect with our favorite consumer brands. For example, when booking a cruise, you may be able to organize itineraries with the help of an AI that intuitively offers and even schedules services that matter to you, while also handling queries for changes or refunds. I'm happy to see that our expertise in the field is also being recognized worldwide. In early June, IDC named Globant as a leader in AI in the IDC marketscape for worldwide artificial intelligence services 2023, Affirming our commitment to value driven services through our comprehensive AI journey.

Speaker 1

We will continue to expand and share our offering on AI applied to industries And different use cases in our portfolio called Mines. I invite all of you to learn more about it by visiting AI. Globant.com. Now some news about our Studio networks. I'll begin with our enterprise Studio network.

Speaker 1

It has been exciting to see how our digitally native approach Makes a difference in how our clients embrace large platform providers like Salesforce, SAP, Oracle and even the hyperscalers. All of them have been moving at a rapid pace to embrace new technologies. Our combined expertise in these core technologies with our understanding of emerging ones Has allowed us to be the partner of choice for our clients as they incorporate new multi technology solutions. Along this line, after announcing Google Cloud Studio on last earnings call, we have just publicly shared the creation of 2 new studios, Amazon Web Services and Microsoft. Industry analysts see a potential growth up to over $1,600,000,000,000 By 2,030 in cloud computing.

Speaker 1

So with these 2 new studios, we will be complementing our offering to better serve organizations worldwide. Diego will expand on this topic later in the call. I am also glad to see how Globant Create consolidates as another of our studio networks. In recent months, we brought our capabilities in digital marketing, sales, branding and performance into this creative powerhouse That leverages AI to improve how organizations can engage with audiences. Growing our offering here has been instrumental in widening our relationships with our clients as we offer them even more services.

Speaker 1

Globant Create got its first Spotlight recently when we presented it at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. It was a unique opportunity to introduce our new studio And at the same time celebrate Globant's first silver lion, won by our commercial 1,000 slides. If you haven't seen it yet, I encourage you to watch it on our YouTube channel. And now to our platforms. I'm enthusiastic to see that the portfolio of GlobenX continues to grow.

Speaker 1

Accelerated by AI and blockchain, we have now evolved each product from a standalone specific technology into more integral solutions. Our portfolio includes platforms like Agur, Starmip, Magnify, Sportian, the evolution of La Liga Tech and Genexus. Let me share some exciting updates about this last one. What was once a low code development platform has now grown into a suite of AI development tools. GeneXis now applies AI not only to support development, maintenance and evolution of any given solution, But it also enhances the user experience of the solutions delivered.

Speaker 1

By incorporating this innovative array of tools, companies can swiftly integrate AI It enables company leaders to effortlessly sift through intricate data to make faster, more informed decisions. The use cases are endless. The vision of GeneXis is to simplify and future proof software development. That's We now ensure that every application delivered by GeneXis can seamlessly integrate with LLMs in a monitored and cost effective manner. Year after year, we continue to live up to our foundational vision of expanding all over the world.

Speaker 1

Doing so has been an engine for growth with our clients. As we expand both our delivery and client networks globally, we can draw on these capabilities to give each particular client A customized delivery network that best caters to and surpasses their transformational goals. Globant now has offices in 70 Cities in 30 countries, including 8 new markets that opened in the past 12 months. Related to this expansion, We have recently announced a significant investment in a 5 year strategic growth plan for Latin America, the region where we were born And a main focus of our delivery model. This investment will be dedicated to 3 main verticals: AI development, Product offering and the expansion of our local teams.

Speaker 1

We are opening a new center of innovation in Sao Paulo, Brazil. From there, Globant subject matter experts will research AI and other top technologies like quantum computing To create practical applications to support our clients. This center will also be responsible for building new AI applications To improve sales force projects, one of our biggest strengths in the Brazilian market. We will continue investing in the development of our own products Such as Agur, Magnify, Starmiep, Sportian and Genexus. Our focus is to keep leveraging AI to accelerate software development And improved digital experiences, increasing our go to market strategy and providing better outcomes for our clients.

Speaker 1

Lastly, we will keep expanding our regional teams by adding 20,000 professionals in the region during the next 5 years. Our strong presence in more than 10 Latin American countries will continue to be a focus of our talent growth. In parallel, we are proud to say we have commenced operations in Portugal. We see great potential in that country to become a new talent hub for Globant to support our European We also look at Portugal as an interesting geography for business development, with several companies looking to transform their organizations And capitalized the country's solid economic growth during the last years. I'm pleased to announce that on July 20th, we completed the incorporation of PENTALOG To the Globant family, with this we welcome 1300 new Globers in France, Romania, Moldova, Mexico, Vietnam and the US.

Speaker 1

This expansion strengthens our presence in Europe, home to 80% of Pentalog's revenue. Our growing footprint there is of particular interest as many of our global clients growth projects in these markets. This week we held our Global Tech Summit here in Sydney. As we are currently sponsoring the FIFA Women's World Cup, This was a great opportunity to meet with partners, future clients and to showcase the work we are doing in sports. I am very enthusiastic about our future.

Speaker 1

Currently Globant has a very healthy pipeline, the largest in our history. And I look forward to sharing with you more stories on our execution. The non stop innovation of our over 27,000 Globers continues to inspire me. Year over year, We are all able to prove that Globant is on the cutting edge of global technology and expands its total addressable market With a growing expertise and constant curiosity. I will now turn it over to the digital twin of Diego Tartara, our Global CTO.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Martin. I'm very excited to be back with you to discuss our growing array of solutions and offerings. As Martine mentioned, AI is transforming the way we do business, provide services and organize our teams. Many of you remember years ago How Globant was very vocal on the coming wave of artificial intelligence long before the widespread adoption we see today. We are only experiencing the beginning of the full potential that AI will bring into everyday life.

Speaker 2

We have recently published Two new reports on how AI will impact industries and how organizations can harness its power to improve the quality, efficiency and velocity of their operations. I invite you all to take a look at how AI is changing the narrative on media and entertainment and game changers on the future of sports atreports. Globant.com. Now as we look out over the next few years, we see how quantum computing Has a similar potential to be an exponential accelerator of computer processes, providing meaningful change that will separate the early adopters from their competitors. The shift from traditional computing to quantum can provide advantages in optimization, machine learning, Scenario simulation and cryptography.

Speaker 2

We can already see possible benefits in manufacturing, the life sciences, AI, finance, energy and other fields. Quantum's massive computing power, when combined with machine learning and AI, will play a crucial role in accelerating innovation. Although it is still in its early stages, we recognize the need for quantum readiness for organizations so that they can seamlessly integrate this technology. They will need a proficient partner in order to ensure they reap the benefits. Given Globant's signature blend between our rising industry knowledge And our long standing tech expertise, we believe we can be that proficient partner for current and future clients.

Speaker 2

Now some additional color on Enterprise Studio Network. Martine mentioned that we have created the new studios of Amazon Web Services and Microsoft In order to leverage our decade of expertise and track record in each space, let me share more context. Globant's expertise covers almost all AWS technologies, from traditional infrastructure as a service to platforms as a service, Data, AI and analytics consulting, Amazon Kinesis delivery and DevOps migration, security and government migration. Driven by our industry specific knowledge, this new AWS studio will help our top stakeholders and our clients to create a comprehensive and scalable cloud platform That can tackle all of the new technology challenges like AI and spatial computing. We combine our global presence, Strategic partnership with Amazon Web Services and deep understanding of cloud technology and business strategy to deliver innovative solutions that help our clients succeed.

Speaker 2

Our Microsoft Studio aims to enable organizations to obtain maximum value from their investments Within the Microsoft AI, Cloud, Data and Analytics capabilities, it supports clients' full adoption of a cloud strategy, Taking the best out of Azure data and AI, implementing migration and modernization processes, and leveraging the suite of Microsoft's intelligent business applications such as Dynamics 365 and Power Platform. This studio is also a partner for companies That need to take their IT operations and responsibilities to Azure certified subject matter experts that will monitor, Manage and maintain clients' IT infrastructure and systems. In this space, we are proud to say that together with Sportian, The evolution of La Liga Tech and Microsoft, we have launched a pilot of generative AI applications to reinvent sports tactics and broadcasting. Using Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, this joint effort will improve available sports data and enhance the experience for millions of fans all over the world. Among other features, this collaboration facilitates the creation of multilingual subtitles adapted in near real time for all live sports matches And improves metrics availability and data visualization for each team's head coach and their assistants.

Speaker 2

This offering started for football, but will expand to other Including basketball, rugby and tennis. Now let me talk about how we are enhancing our clients' operations by improving our product offering. Martine shared news about Genexus. I will dive deeper into other products. First, Wasabi.

Speaker 2

This wallet as a service has evolved And is now capable of offering organizations a fast track into the digital payment space. The platform's architecture based on APIs Sets up a payment aggregation and a digital wallet business in the white label format. It enables organizations to quickly enter the fintech space Without having to develop their own back end from scratch. Wasabi is currently undergoing its first major launch with the Ecuadorian bank, Produbanco. Our solution is the 1st embedded finance platform in Ecuador, and Produbanco has become the depository bank and a reseller of Wasabi, Offering it to its corporate clients who want their own solution for digital payments and collections.

Speaker 2

This project is particularly special to Globant, Because through it, together with Probu Banco, we demonstrated the power of FinTech in Ecuador and its potential to advance financial inclusion for the whole country. Next, I'd like to announce the relaunch of our platform, Meda, an AI assistant for IT service management. As we listen to the challenges of our clients, We find that many of them, particularly larger organizations, struggle with overwhelming and cumbersome IT ticketing systems. As an AI assistant, Meta optimizes and accelerates IT services by applying AI to streamline ticket management and simultaneously Conduct process mining to find bottlenecks. This platform was born out of our work with 1 of the largest companies in the life sciences sector.

Speaker 2

This organization was experiencing a major challenge to map their priorities and procedures through their internal ticketing tool, Receiving over 100,000 priority tickets per month. Our AI assistant anticipates ticket variations And connects them to the appropriate service management team. This resulted in 25% more efficiency in problem solving, 3 times faster ticket resolution, And a 2 day reduction in ticket management. Now some more news on our continuing work with our clients. Over the past year, we began working as The technology partner for Iberia, Spain's biggest airline, as they undergo their own digital transformation strategy.

Speaker 2

The goal is to reinvent the technology area with a 3 year project, which aims to ensure the future value of the engineering functions, Enabling business resilience and rapid transformations. In addition to providing technology services, We have partnered to create the future talent program centered around developing the young talent in the region. Through this project, We are sharing with Iberia the Globant way of doing things, including our agile culture, our growth strategy, our industry specialized capabilities to improve product performance and our delivery models. The pharmaceutical industry has been steadily moving towards transforming traditional face to face interactions into digital experiences as new products are launched into the market. We are working with 1 of the largest players in the sector on an approach To fully transform their go to market strategy.

Speaker 2

Following proven data driven strategies, the new model relies on innovative digital experiences for healthcare professionals To boost their engagement with the company, these new touch points will enable capturing data that will result in simpler, More intuitive and personalized experiences, fostering stronger connections with this specific community while driving the success of their products. You may remember that last quarter, we consolidated our Google Cloud expertise into its own studio, part of the enterprise network. This quarter, we have major developments from the studio with a leading toy company. After building a track record with them for quality of delivery through our work over the past 2 years, They approached us with a more urgent need to reconcile marketing and commerce analytics data for 3 product brands. Their own ecosystem was fragmented and not helping the organization achieve their KPIs.

Speaker 2

Thanks to our partnership With Google and our expertise on the Google Cloud Platform and Data and AI Studio, we reconciled the data on each analytics platform, Enabling the company to calculate business KPIs from a single source. In Latin America, we are working with the region's largest bank, Itau Unibanco. Through Genexus, we're helping them release the 1st banking super app in the region. Our Globant team provided the platform, technology and services To convert their current mobile application into a super app, integrating several partner services into the solution, Boosting user engagement and facilitating customer access to services and product payments without leaving the application. Thank you, everyone, for your time and attention.

Speaker 2

I'll now hand it over to Pato.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Diego, and good afternoon, everyone. It's great to be back. Let's kick off with our clients. As you know, a major growth objective for Globant has been our 100 Squared strategy, Aimed at generating new clients and also expanding the array of our relationships with our current ones to serve new geographies and even more services As we grow our collaboration over time, it continues to advance and show results as this quarter, we were able to deliver our We now have 16 clients bringing in more than 20,000,000 dollars in annual revenue. We have 283 clients that provide more than $1,000,000 of annual revenue, 21.5 percent more than 1 year ago.

Speaker 3

Our largest account, The Walt Disney Company, declined by 2.4% year over year And 1.1% quarter over quarter showing signs of stabilization. The rest of our accounts collectively grew by 18.1 year over year and 6% quarter over quarter. Globant is also widening its revenue sources geographically as well. In Q2, 60.6 percent of our revenue came from North America, 22% from Latin America, 14.1 percent from EMEA and 3.3% from Asia and Oceania. As our 100 Squared's strategy is based on widening our services to our current clients, we remain laser focused on our Net Promoter Score As a quantifiable assessment of our clients' satisfaction with Globant and their likelihood of referring us within their organization and their networks, In Q2, we achieved an NPS of $0.83 our best ever.

Speaker 3

Our average NPS for the trailing 12 months Has now increased from 79 to 81. As of June 30, we were 25,947 Globers, Of which 93.1 percent were IT professionals. With the full incorporation of Pentelog in July, Globant is now a team of more than 27,000 creative minds. Our annual attrition rate is currently 11.6%, The lowest in our history and the attrition over Q2 was 2.5%. We are committed to keep delivering the best experience to Globers And to enhance Globant's identity as an accelerator with exposure to projects with beloved global brands In multiple geographies, regions and industries, combined with a culture of diversity and innovation, We also aim to drive efficient utilization to manage proper headcount, hiring and attrition effectively.

Speaker 3

As of 2Q 'twenty three, our utilization rate stood at 80.1%. At current levels and with the labor market stabilizing, We are confident in our ability to have a healthy flow of talent moving forward. We are already starting to see positive indications of better hiring trends On an organic basis, and we anticipate these trends to continue into H2. Under the same objective and to strengthen our agility, We launched a new AI based staffing assistant that runs on Slack, Globant's preferred internal communication channel And helps project leaders to build the best teams in seconds. This new assistant seamlessly works with Globant's performance and career systems And proposes to each leader suitable candidates within the talent pool that best match each job request with all pertinent information.

Speaker 3

In a fully conversational mode, Globant leaders can now use this assistant to create high performance teams with specific skills And even set up the interviews. This will speed up even more our readiness, maximizing the value of our talent pool And ensuring quality of the delivery. To keep ensuring a vibrant career path at Globant and accelerate Glober's exposure to new challenges, We developed a data driven tool concept known as Readiness Model. It provides a holistic view to assess The readiness level of Globers for growth and promotion by encompassing and interconnecting all the core aspects of talent development, Performance assessments, leaders' feedback and technical skills, among others. We're using this tool so that we can reward Globers Who have gone the extra mile to upskill or reskill themselves and have taken the driver's seat of their own career By offering them new challenges with more agility, it also fosters transparency and helps mitigate bias By clearly outlining the criteria utilized to assess and comprehend the readiness level of Globers as a guide for leaders.

Speaker 3

In doing so, We are being true to Globant's entrepreneurial culture at all levels and areas of the organization. We launched this tool via our proprietary platform Star me up this quarter. For Globers that want to take their career development even further into their own hands, our Open Career platform Team and perspective. More than 500 Globers entered new fields within Globant in Q2 alone. In the past year, more than 2,000 Globers have been able to find new challenges this way.

Speaker 3

We are also enthusiastic about the increase in the utilization of our own learning and development hub, My Growth. There, Globers and their career mentors can track progress in specific skills relative to the expected proficiency at each seniority level. Powered with artificial intelligence, the tool provides a range of learning missions that enable Globers to expand their skills And reached new levels of knowledge in each working ecosystem. More than 15,000 Globers are regularly active on this platform, And nearly 4,000 have increased their standing. Combining the use of My Growth with the continuous evolution and expansion The total Globant learning hours increased more than 30% year over year.

Speaker 3

Last but not least, our Be Kind initiative keeps driving impact on our greater community and broader company stakeholders. In 2020, we committed to offer 15,000 scholarships globally to people from different backgrounds To study technology by 2025. We have had particular focus on underrepresented profiles, Including women and socioeconomic minorities in developing countries. Through our Code Your Future initiative, We have already offered a series of training opportunities to more than 10,000 people. And this last quarter, we announced 500 new scholarships in Malaga, Spain.

Speaker 3

Within this program, the Construchepas initiative in Colombia makes me especially proud. Last year, I shared with you all that Globant launched a special scholarship program for individuals affected by the internal conflict in Colombia Who are transitioning towards peace. The program provides access to alternative forms of education, including boot camps, Technical workshops and soft skill lessons to improve their employability in the technology industry. We have expanded this program to 4 cities and are currently training more than 120 new individuals. And finally, I'm happy to announce updates on the 4th edition of the Women That Build Awards.

Speaker 3

With the support of global partners like the NYSE, Salesforce, Women Corporate Directors, Udemy and Kochhub, this year's nominations stage concluded with our largest response ever for the awards, Receiving over 3,100 nominees and 123,000 votes. We look forward to sharing the stories of the winners So that we can promote more diversity and inclusion in our industry through their inspiring stories. With that, I'll hand it over to Juan to discuss our financials.

Speaker 4

Greetings, everyone. It's good to be back here with you this afternoon. We are excited about the outcomes we achieved today, And we extend our gratitude to all our Globers and clients for their support and dedication in making it happen. We are pleased to report that in Q2 of 2020 We achieved our highest quarterly revenue figure, representing a solid year over year revenue increase of 15.9%, Totaling $497,500,000 Our performance in the current environment is a testament to our commitment to delivering excellent results. Our adjusted operating profit margin met guidance expectations, and we skillfully executed M and A initiatives to broaden our presence in Europe.

Speaker 4

As we previously indicated in our last earnings call, we are confident in achieving sequential strong revenue growth in 2H2023. Our company continues to expand, while client discussions about long term strategies remain consistent. In the Q2, our pipeline increased again and conversations with customers remained strong. Additionally, We continue to see some improvement in the closing of new bookings and the creation of new backlogs to fulfill short term revenues. Our bookings in the first half twenty twenty three are over 40% larger than those in the second half of twenty twenty two.

Speaker 4

Our revenues of $497,500,000 represented a solid 5.3% sequential growth, With North America growing 3.9% quarter on quarter, EMEA at 10.2%, LATAM 6.7% And new markets at 1.8 percent, bringing us to €970,000,000 of revenue year to date at 16.8% year on year growth. Also, our Q2 2023 revenues are already above the Q4 2022 level as previously forecasted in our last two earnings calls. We witnessed improving spending patterns across our top 20 accounts. Regarding our top account, Disney's 2nd quarter performance Showed signs of stabilization with revenues flat sequentially. For Q3, we now expect sequential growth similar to the company average in light of improving demand trends.

Speaker 4

We experienced sequential growth in our 2 to 10 and 11 to 20 client buckets of 1.5% And 6.8% quarter over quarter, respectively. Additionally, inorganic contributions accounted for approximately 6 percentage We posted notable sequential growth in most industries. Our Media and Entertainment division experienced a 5.5% growth rate, Driven by a positive performance not only in our Sports and Entertainment segment, but also in a handful of large media companies. As expected, technology and telecommunications saw a slight decrease of minus 5.0 percent, indicating a more moderated spending pattern still present Across many of our high-tech clients, however, we are seeing signs of stabilization across this vertical looking into the second half of the year. Positive growth was seen in travel and hospitality at 7.1% and consumer, retail and manufacturing at 7.8%, With a flattish performance in Professional Services at minus 0.2%.

Speaker 4

Our Banks, Financial Services and Insurance vertical outperformed With an 8.4% quarter on quarter growth, we note our exposure to large global financial institutions across many business units and geographies. Healthcare demonstrated an exceptional growth rate of 18.8%, helped by our recent acquisition of Experience IT. Our other verticals category grew by 2.3%. All in, this drove a solid company wide Quarter over quarter growth rate of 5.3%. We delivered another strong quarter of profitability and net income generation.

Speaker 4

In Q2 2023, our adjusted gross profit margin reached 38.3%, up 10 basis points quarter on quarter, With adjusted gross profit increasing to $190,600,000 a 13.5% year on year growth. We are experiencing some marginal cost headwinds driven by FX appreciation in most LatAm countries. Our adjusted operating margin for the quarter was 15%, within the guidance range we provided in May. Regarding adjusted SG and A, This stood at 17.9 percent of sales, down 90 basis points compared to last year's quarter. As for below the line items, Our IFRS effective tax rate for the quarter was 21.1%, slightly below our guidance as Taxes came in lower than our initial expectation in specific geographies.

Speaker 4

Our adjusted net income in Q2 reached $58,900,000 With an 11.8 percent adjusted net income margin, up 10 basis points quarter over quarter. Adjusted diluted EPS for the quarter was 1.3 $0.06, dollars 0.03 above our guidance, representing an 11.5% year over year increase based on 43,400,000 Average diluted shares. Regarding balance sheet management, as of Q2 2023, our cash and cash equivalents and short term investments Amounted to $270,800,000 During the quarter, we expanded our revolving credit facility to 7 $25,000,000 from $350,000,000 and it remained fully undrawn by the end of the quarter, providing us ample liquidity And resources to continue to execute our capital allocation and M and A strategy. Year to date, in 2023, We have produced approximately $7,100,000 of free cash flow, a significant improvement from the $28,100,000 used In the same period last year, owing to improvements in our working capital and tax management. Moving forward, let's discuss our outlook for the Q3 And the full year 2023.

Speaker 4

Our Q3 and full year outlook incorporate the most recent trends in the business And the contribution from Pentalog's acquisition, which finally closed by the end of July. I would, first of all, like to provide you with positive news. Our increased guidance for the year implies strong sequential growth in Q3 and in Q4, both in terms of total growth and on a like for like basis, Marketly higher than the rest of the industry. This positive trend in our revenues, coupled with a more constructive market, Gives us confidence to start thinking about 2024. We anticipate Q3 revenues of at least $545,000,000 Reflecting approximately 18.8% year over year growth and a 9.5% sequential increase.

Speaker 4

As we called out during the last quarter, we continue to perceive a positive evolution of our underlying revenue indicators And an encouraging pace of bookings and backlog formation throughout the first half of twenty twenty three compared to the final months of 2022. Excluding the inorganic contribution from Pentalog, we expect over a 6% quarter on quarter revenue growth in the 3rd quarter. The implied sequential growth we expect for the Q4 is projected at approximately similar levels. The company's second half run rate projections are aligned with our long term goals. In terms of the full year guidance, We now expect our full year 2023 revenue to be at least $2,094,000,000 a solid 17.6% Year over year growth and above our previous guidance figure.

Speaker 4

This guidance figure considers about 180, 200 basis points of top line growth from Pentalog. From a profitability perspective, we now expect our adjusted operating income margin in the 15% to 16.5% range For the Q3 of 2023. For the full year, we now expect our adjusted operating margin in the 15% to 16.5% range. IFRS effective income tax rate is expected to be in the 21.5% to 23.5% range for both Q3 2023 And the full year 2023. Our adjusted EPS for Q3 is expected to be at least $1.46 Assuming 43,500,000 average diluted shares outstanding for the quarter.

Speaker 4

Finally, our adjusted diluted EPS for 2023 Is expected to be $5.72 assuming 43,400,000 average diluted shares for the year. Thanks, everyone, for participating in the call and for your coverage and support.

Speaker 5

Thank you, Juan, and hi, everyone. So as we go through the question and answer section of the call, I will first announce your name. And at this point, please unmute your line and ask your questions. Then please mute your line after your question has been done. We also ask to please limit your time to one question and one follow-up.

Speaker 5

So thank you very much. And with this in mind, we will take the first question from Tien Tsin Huang from JPMorgan. Tien Tsin, please go ahead. Your line is open.

Speaker 6

Thank you, Arturo. Yes, good results and The sequential growth outlook is encouraging. So I'll ask on that. It sounds like organic sequential, you're expecting a similar Outcome as we saw here in the Q2, Juan. So I just want to make sure we caught that correctly.

Speaker 6

And I'm curious with this theme of Short cycle projects or discretionary work being under pressure, but large deals coming through. What are you seeing maybe that's different than the rest of the group? Love to hear your thoughts on that, Martin.

Speaker 4

Okay, I'll take the first part.

Speaker 7

Yes, thank you, Tien Tsin, for the question. So yes, I think that the numbers are showing like very good Growth, especially compared to the rest of the industry. The number for Q2 in terms of sequential growth Organic was about 4.3%. That is increasing actually a little bit into Q3, which is going to be around 6% organic sequential growth. And then when we look at the implied numbers for the Q4, it's about 5.5% almost there as well.

Speaker 7

So The sequential growth is clearly improving. I think it's a consequence of the level of bookings and the level of deals that we have been signing Since the beginning of the year and that trend that we started to talk about back in February stays the same and it's actually getting slightly better. We started To see again some deals getting closed. We started to see our largest customer, Disney, now getting better as well. So all in all, as you pointed out, we are once again in the 4% to 6% sequential organic growth quarter over quarter, which It's a positive indicator getting into next year.

Speaker 8

Yes. And on the second part of the question, Tichin, thank you very much We are seeing a pipeline which is historically the highest. And the pipeline It's not composed by small projects, but composed by pretty much larger deals than before, longer term deals. So we're extremely happy to see that. In a wide range of customers from the top 5 to the 11 to 20 sorry, top 5 or sorry, top 10 and 11 to 20.

Speaker 8

In both segments, we are seeing a very positive pipeline. And the change on the trend is pretty good right now. I mean, Much better than on the Q1 than when we announced our Q1 results. So I'm positive for the rest of the year, and it looks like The sun is rising a little bit. I mean, it's not it's rising a little bit.

Speaker 6

Got it. Yes. Well, it's also early there in Australia, so it's probably the case. Real quick on headcount, and I'll see the floor

Speaker 8

Exactly right.

Speaker 9

It's really early here, but we are keeping here.

Speaker 6

You guys are always working hard. That actually segues well with my question, I guess, maybe on utilization and headcount. Can we expect headcount to grow here as we look through the balance of the year? Or is there room on utilization side maybe to balance the demand that you're seeing, I'm just curious what the plans are between headcount growth and utilization? That's all I had.

Speaker 6

Thanks.

Speaker 9

Okay. Thank you for your question. Well, headcount in the first half of the year has been a little down, But now the second half has appeared like we are going to keep growing. Utilization has been we have been working a lot on that in terms of Keeping it up in the last couple of months. So I think that what we are going to expect for the next Half of the year is that we're going to rise the headcount.

Speaker 9

We have very strong pipeline, as Martin was mentioning. The partnership that we are achieving with the main customers are longer. So I think that we can be Like confident that we are going to keep there. The attrition is the lowest in the history in Globant, so I think that, that is also another Good indicator that we are going to the correct path for the second half. Thank you.

Speaker 8

Thank you, Tien Tsin. Thank you.

Speaker 5

Thank you, Tien Tsin. The next question comes from Ashwin Shirvaikar from Citi. Ashwin, please go ahead. Your line is open.

Speaker 10

Thank you. And yes, good morning.

Speaker 8

Good morning.

Speaker 10

Yes, Yes. I wanted to ask about, I mean, obviously, good results and good use of balance sheet as well. Could you help separate out organic versus inorganic sort of the contribution That you expect from Pentelog. And just beyond also the numerical Contribution, if you could talk a little bit about the specific capabilities that you can Later on, because of Pentelog, maybe just get a little bit deeper into that as well, remind us.

Speaker 7

Okay. Thank you, Ashwin. Yes. Look, for the year, the new guidance is 17.6% year over year growth, which is Again, extremely strong when you look into our peers. Most of our peers were from minus 12% to about 4% positive.

Speaker 7

So we are A significant higher growth for Globant. If we want to decompose that, we estimated that Organic growth is about 11.3%, 11.4% for the year and the rest comes from the acquisitions that we did Early this year and late last year. And then specifically talking about Pentalobe, we are estimating The full year impact of Pentalobe at about 180 basis points of growth year over year, Which is about $3,000,000 $34,000,000 $35,000,000 of revenues at this point in time. So that's What we are including for the rest of the year?

Speaker 8

Yes. And regarding the second part of the question, we're I see Pentalobe in 2 different dimensions. The first one is geography, and we're expanding into with much Bigger operations now in France, in Germany and also expanding into other delivery locations like we didn't have before. Or we have it smaller like Poland. And now we have about Sorry, Romania, like we have now more than 1,000 people in Romania.

Speaker 8

We are expanded now into Vietnam, Into Morocco, into other destinations, we were not there. And I will let Diego to explain the technological things that Pentalog are bringing to the table.

Speaker 11

So, Pentelog actually, in terms of their delivery, I think the key aspect They have and they bring to the table for Globant. It has to do with the use of their talent. They have tooling and an approach to the delivery model that is Super interesting and very innovative that we are working together now to incorporate at a full scale in Globant. In terms of capabilities, I think the most important aspect, like Martin said, is reaching out to their client base and opening up New regions, not only in terms of delivery, but in terms of clients to bring our expertise, and that's already happening.

Speaker 9

Got it.

Speaker 10

Yes, sorry, go ahead.

Speaker 9

No, no, it's okay. The integration had been really, really great with PentaLog and was really smooth. So we have been able to start working with their clients and Cross selling there all the capabilities that Globant has. So I think that is a really important thing that about this acquisition business was really smooth and was fast. So we can see the results very, very shortly.

Speaker 10

Understood. Understood. And the second question is on margins. And I think Through the first half one, you had mentioned that margins should improve through the course of the year. The margin range It's still sort of the kind of I think at the top end is a little bit lower than before.

Speaker 10

Could you talk a little bit about the specific investments That you're having to make in the current environment. And is this for the purpose of supporting the significantly higher growth rate? Or Is there a pricing component? What's exactly going on?

Speaker 7

Look, if it hasn't been for The recent changes in the FX market, we would have seen a nice improved, I would say, 1.5 to Probably around 1.5 percentage points of improvement. But if you look at what is happening in Latin America, especially Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Peru, the appreciation of the U. S. Dollar has gone anywhere between 5% to 15% in just 2 months. And that has a direct impact on our cost base in U.

Speaker 7

S. Dollars, and therefore, it has an implication on the margins. So yes, as you said, the first half of the year, We were expecting actually we were doing a lot of things, but and we were expecting a meaningful improvement for the second half of the year. That now has come down a little bit, that expectation, Because of the very recent appreciation of the U. S.

Speaker 7

Dollar, yes, we are as always, we keep on investing on growth. We keep on investing in expansion. And actually, the growth levels that we are putting out are a very good indication Of that strategy, well above the rest of the industry. But as you pointed out, on the margin front, we are seeing some headwind Coming from some effects in Latin America.

Speaker 10

Understood. Thank you.

Speaker 12

Thank you.

Speaker 5

Thank you, Ashwin. Thank you, Ashwin. Our next question comes from Mayank Tandon from Needham. Mayank, your line is open.

Speaker 13

Great. Thank you so much, Arturo. Well, first, congrats on the quarter and very impressive relative to your peers. So I wanted to ask you in terms of 2024, I think, Juan, you said You already are thinking about 24%. So given the exit rate of the Q4, when we do the math and the easy comps, Is it reasonable to expect maybe a return to 20% growth by 2024?

Speaker 7

Yes. Look, that's what the math is saying. Of course, it's still early, and We will be providing formal guidance at the beginning of 2024, in February. But clearly, one thing is to get into next year We are seeing sequential growth and a very different thing is when you're seeing decreases, right? So we are optimistic about next year.

Speaker 7

We are optimistic about how deals Are shaping up, are getting closed. But it's I think it's still early to say, okay, it's going to be 2020, it's going to be 2015, it's going to be 2022, right? When you look at the market and our peers, they seem to be all in the single digit numbers. I do believe that double digit is okay. Maybe we need to get closer into the end of the year to see if what we are seeing right now is validated in the second half Or if there is any change.

Speaker 7

But so far, it's looking good.

Speaker 13

Got it. And then just as a quick follow-up. In terms of Disney, what's changing? Every item we look at news wise, it's bad. So could you just give us some color in terms of what's changing at Disney for you?

Speaker 13

And should we expect flat trends from here? Or do you expect actual improvement in terms of sequential growth as you move through the second half of twenty twenty four? Thank you.

Speaker 8

Well, I would take that one. Thank you for the question. Disney has gone through a Pretty deep process of optimization of their operations. And it is interesting to see how that evolved. And During the Q1 this year and a large portion of the Q2 of this year, they have been Moving things around, going up and down.

Speaker 8

And it was public announcements about many people that they let go. But the scope of what they needed to do didn't change. And that still get every day more and more challenged. They are every day in a bigger need of changing and evolving their technological solutions. So, Disney historically has invested a lot on technology, and we are very good partners to them.

Speaker 8

And we have been, In the last few months, seeing like some traction again on our services and what we do for them. On the Parks side, also on the direct to consumer Side on the Disney plus so on and so forth side. So in both places, demand is back. So we are very happy for that. And I Think the trend will continue going that way, hopefully.

Speaker 8

Let's see. We never know.

Speaker 13

Thank you.

Speaker 8

You're very welcome.

Speaker 12

Thank you. See you.

Speaker 5

Thank you, Mayank. Our next question comes from Maggie Nolan from William Blair. Maggie, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 14

Hi. Thank you.

Speaker 8

Hello, Maggie.

Speaker 12

Hi, Maggie. Hi, Maggie.

Speaker 14

I wanted to follow-up on that question, but ask about Clients 2 through 10 and kind of what are the puts and takes there within that cohort? What do you think it takes to bring that group back up to the company average growth?

Speaker 7

Yes. There's a combination always of customers, right? And specifically in the 2 to 10, there is just one customer that Did not perform in line with the company growth and kind of took a little bit the numbers down on average. But again, GloWand has a very strong portfolio of what we call the 100 Square accounts, accounts that Have the potential to do $100,000,000 over time. And sometimes, like in this quarter, Disney was flat sequentially, And we still were able to do 4.3% sequential organic growth, 5.3% total growth sequential, right?

Speaker 7

So Sometimes it's one customer, sometimes it's a group of customers, sometimes it's all the company. But I think that the interesting part here is that We have an amazing portfolio of high potential accounts in every single industry. So that's another positive, right? I mean, We don't have specific concentration in 1 single industry. Hence, we tend to be quite diversified.

Speaker 7

And sometimes the revenue might come From travel, sometimes it might come from media, like this quarter it was good. Sometimes it may be from financials, which this quarter was flattish. So all in all, we have a very diversified portfolio of the most successful companies in each industry, and that is what drives the growth In the mid and long term. Short term, you may have one customer up or down, but I think that's

Speaker 8

the Yes. And regarding the pipeline, Maggie, We see the pipeline growing pretty much across the board, but it has a very clear And on the top clients, on those clients that you mentioned. So yes.

Speaker 9

I think that one of the other think that it's important that we have been working a lot this last year is on the global accounts. We have put in a strategy in order to cover Global accounts, I mean, you know that we have this regional approach in terms that we have LatAm, we have Europe, new markets And we have U. S. But then now we have another strategy that is the 100 Square strategy that goes around all those regions. Then we have the other one that is global accounts.

Speaker 9

And those are specific teams that are covering accounts all around the world. Like, for example, I don't know, Santander is one of the global account that is in Europe, in LatAm, in Mexico. I mean, we have it in different kind of spaces, and we have a specific Going and keeping that accounts growth. Right now, we have named 10 Globant accounts. Probably, we are going to have 15 Or 2020 by the end of the year, we expect that.

Speaker 9

So I think that is another way of approaching how we are growing the accounts in Globant.

Speaker 14

Helpful. Thank you. And then when you think about the announcement that you put out there about the large investment In Latin America, including the hiring efforts, can you help me understand what strategically is different for you going forward, what you're most excited How you're going to approach this maybe differently than what you've been doing to expand in the region in the last several years?

Speaker 8

Yes, sure. We have been expanding, as you have seen, operations all around the world, in Europe, And APAC, with a heavy presence now in Middle East. And we think it's time to go back as Given the strategic importance and relevance that Latin America gained after certain events, international events, We believe it's time to double down on Latin America. And that's the simplest way of Explaining that. Now the specifics of that is growing our Brazil operation, growing our delivery centers in the many different Countries in which we operate, we operate pretty much in all of them.

Speaker 8

So that, Maggie, is how you need to think about this. It's a long term investment, probably 5, 6, 7 years in terms of developing talent, developing AI And expanding into the Latin American market.

Speaker 14

Thank you all. Nicely done.

Speaker 8

Thank you very much.

Speaker 12

Thank you, Maggie.

Speaker 5

Thank you, Maggie. Our next question comes from Brian Bergin from TD Cowen. Brian, your line is open. Please go

Speaker 13

Hi, all.

Speaker 15

It's good to see you. I want to start on program types. So If you can talk about the nature of client conversations now related to the theme of cost efficiency programs versus more of a growth focus, Certainly hear a more constructive tone from you here. I'm curious, have you seen a notable pickup as it relates to inquiries around growth Oriented projects, but still a little early for that.

Speaker 8

Yes, sure, Brian. Thank you so much for the question.

Speaker 12

We are

Speaker 8

seeing An evolution that is happening in terms of the quality of the projects. Before, they were More oriented they still are, but more oriented on the cost savings side. And now we're seeing that picking up a lot on the digital space, on the Globant Create space In which we are providing AI projects connected to everything that you know is happening In the market, we are seeing evolution a lot in terms of how to integrate the offering of Create With digital marketing, digital sales, digital branding performance into our main practices, So we are happy to see that evolution because for a long time, I would say, during the last 5, 6 quarters, the predominant Kind of projects were projects based on trying to become more efficient. And now the focus Still is that, but the addition of AI and everything that is happening of AI with AI, and as we said in past quarters, This AI demand will still be picking up slowly. Corporations are slower than individuals To adopt technology given the whole restraints and much larger systems that they have.

Speaker 8

So This thing will pick up, and we will see more of those interesting digital projects moving forward. But still, the Cost saving kind of projects are there, and I think they will be there for some time.

Speaker 15

Okay, understood. And then I

Speaker 11

think just to add a little bit of color on that. I think we're kind of in an intersection. The cost saving and operational efficiency, it is still in the conversation, but the approach to it has changed Dramatically. Like just as an example, within Healthcare, we're talking about telemedicine, which reduces the cost and brings better experience. But from a different perspective, we're starting new technologies, it's doing long term development.

Speaker 11

So that is slowly starting to happen, And I think that's the change we've been seeing during Q2.

Speaker 15

Okay. That's helpful. Thanks, Diego. My follow ups on the Enterprise Platform Studio. So can you give us a sense of how big this studio has gotten for you?

Speaker 15

It seems to be quite successful. And just separately, as you lean into this area further, does it change anything around how you're sourcing talent Versus your heritage, scale based and custom software development, is there a different way of acquiring talent for this particular studio area?

Speaker 8

Yes. We'll have the second part of the question to be answered by Pato. I will answer the first one. There's a specific need on the enterprise side, and we're talking about the enterprises like the back end of the companies, going from SAP to Cloud migration to Salesforce to backend in terms of how they take care of their own customers or their own processes, so on and so forth. There's a pretty clear need to do things in a different way in that space and bring The way of working from the digital space into this area and people kind of They are tired about the old practices and the old way of doing things in that specific space.

Speaker 8

So now they are betting for players like Globant For Globant, because we're bringing that fresh approach to that to those same problems. Something remarkable is how we are seeing the demand of the migration from R3 to As for HANA in SAP, for example. But cloud migration is also, in general, Very accentuated. Sales force is picking up very good, and we are seeing a Strong demand there. But in essence, what our customers are buying from us, which cannot get from others, Is this way of understanding how to create technology, how to implement technology In a totally different manner, reinventing that space too.

Speaker 8

And that's one of our largest Competitive advantage is how we do things. And that's why that enterprise network of studios I would like to call it, is growing very fast. In terms of talent, I will let Pato to complement.

Speaker 9

Of course. Thank you. I mean, what we are doing It's kind of mostly the same as we have been doing. The only thing that is probably what we are doing more specific things in terms of these Specific skills and the partnership that we have with Salesforce and Go On, all the interpreting help us in order to Achieve those talent and prepare that talent when the client asks us. But as Martin was mentioning, the way we are hiring, I mean, is not changing because That.

Speaker 9

We always hire at the same pace. We are we keep expanding our operation in terms of looking for the best talent in the world. All around the world, we are Opening offices, but some of them are specific going into this specific technology and this specific studio. That is different. But it's Not different as when we launched the gaming studio or is not different as we launched other studios.

Speaker 9

I mean, we treat this As part of the 3.60 offer that have Globant, when we approach a client that wants this kind of technology and this kind of partnership, It's not because they want just the talent. It's because they want the talent and all that comes with that. The experience of Globant, The culture of Globant, the approach that we have in terms of solutioning, not only that specific topic, also the consultancy, The marketing, I mean, all the studios that Diego was mentioning that we create in this last couple of months. So I think that Going to your question about the talent, we keep growing the talent. We keep helping the talent grow inside the company.

Speaker 9

We have been put in place many initiatives that has to do. We keep training, upskilling, reskilling. We have the apply Artificial intelligence in our Globant University in terms of doing the talent match. So we keep doing what we We'll most love to do is taking care of our Globers and have the best version of themselves, right?

Speaker 11

If I may chime in with a small comment. I think you're spot on with regards to there's definitely a difference. In fact, Within the Enterprise Studio, most of the career path and the talent is heavily based on certifications. And this is required by the partnerships, This is a big change. But the good thing about that, about the differences is that we remember that at the core, we are organizing studios.

Speaker 11

And they are actually taking care of that, the full pipeline from attracting the talent to delivery. So this is actually, For Globant, it's our bread and butter. It's how we do things.

Speaker 15

Okay. That's very cool. Thank you.

Speaker 8

One last comment on that. Sorry, you hit a very specific point. And one more comment on that is that people that joins Globant, They are not joining an enterprise studio. They are joining to be part of A story of reinvention of the industry. And this is what people likes to do.

Speaker 8

People likes to do and to belong to teams that are Thinking very big that are trying to do something really different for the whole market. And this is the case of Globant, and this is Why many of the people are joining us. Sorry, go ahead with your question.

Speaker 15

No, no, no. I was thanking you for all the detail. So thank you all.

Speaker 12

Thank you. See you. Bye bye. Thank you.

Speaker 5

Thank you, Brian. Our next question comes from Surinder Thind from Jefferies. Surinder, please go ahead.

Speaker 16

Thank you.

Speaker 17

So for my first question, just going back to the question about the studios here. It seems like every quarter you've got a new studio or 2 that you At what point does that structure potentially become a bit unwieldy? And then what happens to studios maybe you launched 2 years ago, something like the meta studio where I assume uptake probably isn't that strong.

Speaker 11

So I'll take it. So Actually, one of the we're launching studios. There's a process of maturity and evolution that makes us launch studios. And but we are also combining studios whenever it makes sense. Just as an example, what We now call digital experiences encompasses lots of studios that were there before like UI development, mobile, etcetera, etcetera, That now can be handled within one portion of the ecosystem.

Speaker 11

The second one is we're Constantly challenging the structure and how that structure is maintained. In fact, we are actually doing changes as we speak that we'll Announced shortly that have to do on how we manage them, the ecosystems. So one of the things is that We created we reorganized the studios in 4 networks, and they will be managed and in a way that They will become much closer to the business, not only to the talent. So I think the number of studios that we have and how we manage them is always we never Chew more than or buy more than what we can chew. We know what we're doing, what we're developing, what the market It's requiring and what the talent is requiring as well.

Speaker 11

So with all of that combined is that we are making the announcements and launching the new studios.

Speaker 8

Yes. And the new studios were packed into 4 different groups, as Hugo mentioned. Do you want to go through the different For PAX?

Speaker 11

Yes, definitely. We have the reimention studios that you're all aware that have to do with reinventing industries. We have the digital studios that are around technologies and solution types. Then we have Create, which we recently launched. It was announced On our last quarter and last, we have The enterprise, sorry.

Speaker 11

We were talking about that before. The enterprise studio, which encompasses All the solutions that have to do with enterprise and their operations.

Speaker 8

And the way, Diego, to think about them is you go the full life cycle of the product or the company and you start With the consultancy part, which is the reinvention studios. Then if you want, you go to the enterprise studios where You work with the back end, then you go to the digital studios to create your digital experience and AI, so on and so forth. And then you go with the Create Studio that is about making it Available for people, making it known by people, just digital marketing, digital sales, performance, advertising, so on and so forth. So that for That full cycle is what we strive, and we tackle that cycle with these 4 studio networks. Is that clear?

Speaker 17

That's helpful. And then in terms as a follow-up here, in In terms of where we started the conversation on the call, which was around the AI, right? There was the initial conversations that you were having with clients. Then you've kind of started doing some proof of concept Projects for them. What really comes next at this point, right?

Speaker 17

How do you think about what the client Adoption curve here is in the time frames that are maybe involved when you think about it from a client perspective?

Speaker 8

Yes. Still, the projects are exploratory and now a little bit deeper, but it's still exploratory. I believe that it will take a couple of more quarters to see that in full action. And let's see how customers use it. There are hundreds of use cases that are extremely useful.

Speaker 8

They still need to prove that the quality of the answers And what they are getting from that is really to the level that they need. So I expect That given that corporations move much slower, it will take a little bit more time to see that evolution. I don't know if you will Yes.

Speaker 11

I think As of today, things we've seen a lot of activity with what we call Knowledge augmented knowledge, which is managing large amount of information that the organization produces in an unstructured way And making it available to the organization under a different type of context. We've done a lot on that front. We've done a lot As well in something that's called Converse AI, which is making all your business processes Accessible to one single conversation and interface, which makes it super easy for anyone working at the company, be that During the ramp up process or everyday type of work, those typically in terms of project size are not huge. They're very good. They have very good impact.

Speaker 11

But the thing is the landscape within AI is changing a lot. New players, new capabilities. Microsoft just announced a bunch of new capabilities being exposed through Azure, we know that Google follows immediately, etcetera, etcetera. But the good thing is we're all Coming to this idea of what will be the AI application architecture In the future and what will be achievable. And we're talking about agents, we're talking about plug ins, a much richer type of architecture where you can control On which data you're basing your response, where you can actually interact with Different systems within the company and make all that part seamless part of that conversation with a large language model.

Speaker 11

All of that together puts like big, large type of projects transformational where you actually change completely, As an example, the way a marketplace interacts with its clients or an OTS as an example. Those are the projects that are And this is what Martin was saying, it will take a couple of quarters for us to start seeing that.

Speaker 17

Thank you.

Speaker 8

Thank you. Thank you.

Speaker 5

Thank you, Surinder. So our next question comes from Thomas Blakely from KeyBanc. Thomas, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 16

Thanks, guys. Congratulations on the result. I all of my questions have been answered, so maybe some follow ups here. On the Enterprise Studio, it seems like this is definitely accelerating here in the near term. I just wanted to just double click on that in terms of It's hard to ask about share gains with an $8,900,000,000,000 TAM you identified, Martine.

Speaker 16

But is there something going on? Is there a dynamic that you guys are Relatively known for the front end, the design, ideation. It seems like you're being tapped a little harder on this Kind of multi cloud possible strategy here in the back end. Just want to ask a question there. And on the AI, on Surendra's comment questions, You've given some comments before about percentages of revenue, Juan, maybe we'd love to hear any updates there or what you would think about maybe looking out into 24 In terms of an increase, maybe a percentage of revenue coming from that those technologies.

Speaker 16

Thank you.

Speaker 8

Thank you, Thomas. The first part of the question. Customers are tired about nonsense on the Enterprise side, they are tired about lack of transparency. And we are bringing Absence of nonsense, we're bringing transparency to those projects, which is what we normally do on the digital space. So That cultural transformation of those kind of projects is what's driving our demand Into the space.

Speaker 8

And I see that evolving and growing quite heavily moving forward. The fact that people like the most is our studio model, our pods That are on the top of organization, being absolutely autonomous, taking decisions much faster than our competitors, Being able to have an identity really perform in a totally different manner. The idea that we are using AI To discover, for example, bottlenecks on an SAP implementation and how you operate SAP. And we are bringing those things very fast into the market, and we are being extremely successful with all those things. So I'm very happy with the performance of the Enterprise Studios.

Speaker 8

And as Thiago said, we're launching The Microsoft Studio, the AWS Studio, we already have the Salesforce Studio, the Google Cloud implementation. So we have Now the full set of the big vendors on that specific space working with us and helping with us, And they see the same thing I'm describing. They see that we are delivering these projects with a totally fresh and different approach, With a totally different organization coming from a different world. And that's very attractive. And that's part of the innovation we're bringing to the industry.

Speaker 8

And Juan, if you want to take the second Yes.

Speaker 7

So this is, let's say, an area that is recent I mean, it's recent for Globant. We've been there for Only a few years. So yes, it's going to get some market share from the total revenues next year. It is growing Probably slightly above the rest of the industry right now the rest of the company right now.

Speaker 8

And the industry.

Speaker 7

And the industry as well. And that but that's mainly because it's also we're a small player and it's a small part of Globant so far. But definitely, it's an area where we are seeing A lot of potential and a lot of growth. So it's going to grow probably a little bit faster than the rest of the company given its smaller size as well.

Speaker 16

Thank you.

Speaker 9

Thank you.

Speaker 5

Thank you, Tom. Our next question comes from Arvind Ramani from Piper Sandler. Arvind, your line is open.

Speaker 12

Hi. Thanks for taking my question. And by the way, I just want to comment, really good results, but also a really nice pair of shoes all of you have. So

Speaker 9

Thank you. Finally, someone said something really important.

Speaker 12

That's good. So look, I mean, it's clear that you're outpacing growth versus your peers. I want to find out how much of that you attribute to the specific work and offering you all have versus like Kind of the client or industry exposure?

Speaker 7

Look, there are a number of things that explain this significant higher growth Than our peers. And I would say that we are all in the same market. So they have to be company specific drivers, right? It has to be on how we are structured. It has to be in terms of studios.

Speaker 7

It has to be with how Growth is part of our culture, and we everything that we do is always thinking about what to do next, which Market to attack next. Also, we started building Strong marketing campaigns in the last 2 years by especially for example, we were a sponsor of the Men's World Cup Back in Qatar last year, now we are in Australia because we are sponsors also of the Women's World Cup as well. So we are being very aggressive in putting the brand out there and making it non globally. As Martin mentioned during the remarks, We opened new 8 markets in the last 12 months, which is something that Most companies these days are not doing. They are more like looking into inside and how to keep the lights on and keep things going.

Speaker 7

On the opposite, we are heavily pushing to expand. And I think that all those things are very relevant to understand why We have been performing better than the market. Finally, on the M and A front, we have been active looking into New technologies that we want to bring into the equation, looking into new markets, both for revenues and also for talent. We have now Presence, for example, in Vietnam, in the Philippines, which we didn't have in the past. We have a stronger presence in France for revenue, In Germany, in Australia, in Denmark, so I think that's kind of the drivers of why we are Somehow performing very, very different from all the rest of the industry.

Speaker 8

As you may see, our shoes are not the main difference, right?

Speaker 7

Diego and myself, we bought the 2 of them for the price of 1.

Speaker 12

I would not expect anything different from the CFO, right? Thank you.

Speaker 16

2 for 1.

Speaker 8

He was in the same shop.

Speaker 6

Yes.

Speaker 12

Just When I look at your growth outside your top 10, it's very healthy at 22% growth, which is very impressive. So when I look at That outside top 20, is the growth bigger at some of the larger accounts, let's say, your top 10 to 20? Or is it more like broad based across everyone?

Speaker 7

Typically, at Gloant, I would say top 50 accounts are the ones that drive the company, right? And those 50, probably 40 of those are 100 Square accounts, right? Like I think at the end of the day, what makes us grow is This focus on these very large global companies that are leaders in their own industries, that are spending or investing 1,000,000 or 1,000,000,000 sometimes of dollars in technology, and we have been able, in some cases, To become a strategic partner, and we are working very hard for the other cases to also get there because that's when companies go from €1,000,000 €2,000,000 €3,000,000 €15,000,000, €20,000,000 €50,000,000 €80,000,000 €100,000,000 So that's the and we've been talking about 50 Square for a long time, then it became 100 Square. And But it talks about, okay, what are we trying to achieve, which are the customers that can get us there. And I think that, that very clear mindset and focus Has been very relevant to grow across the board.

Speaker 7

And yes, I mean, as I was saying at the beginning, I would look more into it like top 50 because Sometimes it's the top ones, sometimes it's the top 10, sometimes it's the 11 to 20 and sometimes it's 20 to 50. But overall, like I would say that 95% of the growth is always driven by the top 50 accounts.

Speaker 9

Yes. To add to that, the way we organize Our sales force has to do with that, right? It has to do with how to cover, how to partner with the main accounts. As Juan was telling, it's not only the 10 account or 20. It's More like this vision of the 100 Square is how we are going to be the best partner in those accounts, the global accounts that we want to achieve.

Speaker 9

So When we are thinking about how to structure new teams, how we'll open a new market as was APAC, you were asking about Sydney What we are doing here, so it has to do with that. It has to do with how we are expanding Globant around the globe. There is a very A famous video about how we have been growing the last couple of years and opening offices. And we have been covering all the globe right now. So we have like APAC, we have Europe, we have LATAM, we have U.

Speaker 9

S. And that is a vision that we have in order to what we want to achieve. That It's why we are growing so I mean faster than the rest of the competitors. And probably, it has to do also with the mindset that we want to Have in all the talent in the company, not only the leaders of the account, all the parts in the company has this growth mindset, And they have their own autonomy in terms of how to how they want to deliver the best quality to the to our clients. So I think that is also another important thing.

Speaker 9

The culture It's really, really very important in Globant. Everybody is thinking about how to grow, how to cross sell, how to present a new studio to a client, how to connect With the best partner, how to make the best partnership ever with the client that we have. So I think that, that thing is something really important. It's not only The leaders of the account is the complete parts that are in front of the client that are working, and they have many KPIs that has to do with that. We are measuring all In terms of the readiness in AI, I mean, how are they applying AI in their processes?

Speaker 9

I mean, We have KPIs about how they are growing, about their assessment, about their performance that they are doing. I think those kind of mindset has to do with What we want to achieve, right? We want all the time to challenge the Sato Grosso and all the time keep growing and keep giving the best of That we can. We don't like to stay in the same line. We are always wanting for more.

Speaker 9

Today, we present these 4 new Organization of the studios that is completely new, and that has to do what we have been looking that the business is Expecting, expecting something new. They don't want the same story all the time. They want someone that can help them in order to reinvent their industry in order to connect better with their clients To achieve another goals. So we are there for them. So that is something really, really important that we have all across the company The 27,000 employees that we have today, I think that today we have been working all the time every day on that kind of culture.

Speaker 12

This is a super helpful context. Thank you so much and looking forward to next earnings as well.

Speaker 7

Thank you, Arvind.

Speaker 12

Thank you.

Speaker 8

Thank you so much. Bye bye.

Speaker 5

Thank you, Arvind. Our next question comes from Moshe Katri from Wedbush. Moshe, your line is open.

Speaker 18

Please go ahead. Thanks. Really impressive numbers, guys. Congrats. I have 2 follow-up questions here.

Speaker 18

First, You indicated that booking growth for the first half of the year compared to the second half of last year was up 40%. Is there any way to kind of gauge How that bookings were on a quarterly basis, Q1 versus Q2, I. E, have we seen bookings Accelerate from Q1 to Q2 in terms of growth rates? And then in that context, maybe some color on where you're seeing some of that booking growth coming through in terms of Maybe regions and verticals, that's my first.

Speaker 7

I'll take it. Thank you, Moshe, for the question. So I think what is important there is that We have started to build backlog again, right? If you remember back when we guided when we reported Q1, we were saying In the second half of the of last year, we had consumed a big part of the backlog. So we need more bookings, we need more deals To start building backlog again.

Speaker 7

So this 40% increase in bookings in the 1st part of the year relative to the year before Shows that because of all these deals that we are being able to close, the backlog has started to pick up again, Which to grow, you need both things, right? You need flow and you need stock. So having or starting to yield backlog again helps. When we look at Q1 and Q2 and what is already part of Q3, I think that we have seen Kind of a steady slow but steady improvement in every month, and that continues. We have not seen any changes.

Speaker 7

I mean, of course, we are not in the 2021 levels or 2nd part of 2020. But definitely, when you look at You start if you were to draw a line starting in July 2022 all the way to August 2023, you could definitely see how There was a big change towards the end of the year and sequential increases pretty much in every month. Which industries or which regions? I think the good news is that the U. S.

Speaker 7

Has waken up again. We started to see now A lot of those deals that were getting delayed now closing. Europe has hold up well during the whole process. I mean, It never really went down that much. It never really went was impacted that much.

Speaker 7

And LatAm is It was always also kind of stable. So I would say that the main changes in the U. S. Being a little bit more active, and that's what has been driving Big part of that increase in bookings, Moshe.

Speaker 18

Okay. That's really helpful. And then if I'm looking at some of the trends during the quarter, we've seen Growth moderates in North America and Latin America on a year over year basis versus last quarter. We've seen a nice pickup in Europe Sorry, we've seen a nice pickup in Europe and APAC. Should we see Some of that reversing?

Speaker 18

And maybe should we see improvements in North America and Latin America in terms of growth rates in the second half based on the bookings that you're talking about?

Speaker 7

Yes. And Europe will be a little bit lower. Keep in mind that Q3 is typically the holiday season in Europe. So it tends to be softer than So on a sequential basis, you're going to see North America and Latin America and new markets also picking up. And probably Europe is going to be softer in terms of sequential growth going into the second half.

Speaker 18

Understood. Great. Thanks for the color.

Speaker 5

Thank you, Moshe. So with that, we will conclude the Q and A section for today. So thank you all for joining and for the time today. I will now ask Martin to provide some closing comments. Please go ahead, Martin.

Speaker 8

Thank you very much, everyone, for participating, for giving your coverage, your support. And looking forward to see you on our next earnings call.

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Earnings Conference Call
Globant Q2 2023
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