Infosys: Unlucky 13% intraday plunge for stock as ‘distracted’ CEO quits

MUMBAI: Infosys shares touched a three-year low on Friday after chief executive Vishal Sikka blamed the “continuous drumbeat” of distractions for his exit, underscoring investor concerns over the unfinished agenda of steering the IT bellwether away from its cost-driven delivery model.

Stocks at the Bengaluru-based software icon, among the first from India to list overseas, slipped as much as 13% before finally closing at Rs 923.10 apiece on the BSE. Infosys lost more than Rs 22,000 crore in market capitalisation after the fourth CEO exit in the past 10 years put the spotlight on inherent difficulty in transforming the 1980s’ company, built largely around wage-costs arbitrage.

Responses from analysts and corporate-governance watchers were mixed. Some called it a setback to the company’s transformation initiatives, while others viewed the development as an end to the boardroom battle.

“This is a severe dent to brand reputation, client conversation, investor confidence, employee morale and business transformation, which would affect its financial performance in short-to-medium term,” Rahul Jain and Ruchir Burde, analysts with Emkay, said in a report that downgraded Infosys to ‘reduce’ from ‘hold.’

Also read: Separation blues: Vishal Sikka updates Twitter bio, posts e-mail on personal blog

Lingering uncertainty and lack of positive triggers in the foreseeable future would weigh on the valuations, Emkay said. “Clients… would prefer more certain business partners that provide continuity of thought. We believe this event may benefit competitors such as TCS or Cognizant — at least in short term.”

BOARDROOM BATTLE
However, there were others that didn’t seem rattled by the exit. Sarabjit Kour Nangra of Angel Broking retained a ‘buy’ rating, citing Infosys board’s resilience. Similarly, a section of Infosys investors interpreted Sikka’s resignation as end to the boardroom battle.

“Sikka’s exit draws a longdrawn-out boardroom battle to a close. While the company did better than industry during Sikka’s tenure, it was nowhere near achieving Sikka’s own $20 billion target by 2020,” said VK Sharma, Head of Business, Private Client Group at HDFC Securities. “Sikka’s allegation that he was continuously being distracted does not wash as he had a long enough honeymoon period to make his mark.”

Most market-watchers are, however, concerned about Sikka’s unfinished transformation agenda, which had sought to steer the company away from commoditized services toward automation, robotics, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Indian companies are competing with larger and more nimble-footed global rivals such as IBM and Accenture for a bigger share of the technology business.

UNFINISHED AGENDA
“This development has taken uncertainty on the stock to a different level. Earlier, we had a semblance of financial performance, which was credited to Sikka. Now, there is more uncertainty on the fundamentals while the whole governance saga continues," said Pramod Gubbi, head of equities at Ambit Capital. Ambit put the Infosys stock ‘under review’ from ‘buy’ on Monday, citing Infosys' refusal to make the Panaya report public.

"The continuous misalignment of views among the founders, the board and the MD has led to this resignation. It was imminent. I expect changes to the board. This uncertainty is not good for the shareholders," said Shriram Subramanian, MD, InGovern Research Services— a firm advising institutional investors on corporate governance standards.

In his exit note, Sikka said continuous distractions and disruptions had emerged as the key impediment in the management's efforts at transforming the company, hinting at the recent spat founders had with the board over many issues, including ex-CFO Rajiv Bansal's severance compensation and disclosures regarding probe into the Panaya acquisition.

“Vishal Sikka’s resignation cannot come as a surprise. Despite best efforts, Infosys’ board was unable to protect him from the constant onslaught of Infosys’ highly-statured, yet petulant, critics,” said Institutional Investor Advisory Services India in a report.

“He (Murthy) may find solace in Sikka’s resignation, but shareholders have paid the price — his comments have been a constant distraction, periodically destabilising the company.”