Sonata Software Share price and Fundamental Analysis

Company History

Sonata Software Limited (SSL) was incorporated in the year October 18th, 1994. The Company is primarily engaged in the business of delivering Information Technology (IT) Services and Software Solutions to its customers across the globe including the US, Europe, Middle-East, Asia - Pacific, Australia and New Zealand. Besides, the Company distributes products from global technology companies present in India.

Sonata,a division of IOCL was later spun off as an independent company namely, Sonata Software Ltd, in October 1994 for a consideration of Rs 8.14 crs. As a part of restructuring plan, IOCL was disposed of and sold its equity holding in SSL to the present promoters for a consideration of Rs 78 per share and Rs 87 per share based on the valuation certificate issued by IOCL's auditors and in consultation with financial institution.

In September 1998, the company issued bonus issue at a ratio of 13 shares for every 10 shares held. To provide funds for expansion of the computing and communication infrastructure of software development facalities for exports at Bangalore, the company came out with the public issue of 25,22,000 Equity shares of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 80 per share aggregating to Rs 22.70 Crs.

Sonata is giving more importance in specific areas in R&D centre, like Focus in Technology, Software Engineering, Productizing and Branding Services. For a technology company having strong alliance with Global IT companies like Microsoft, Oracle & Lotus to access to technology by participating in beta programme and business partner programme.

The company has been doing research in the area of e-commerce, which lead to enolving a set of services Viz-web-enablement, Business Intelligence & Technology deployment service branded as 'e-Sonata'. With the efforts spend in R&D; company has to executing large project in area of EJB, DCOM & J2EE, and Java. New branded e-Sonata executing medium to large e-commerce projects & several new additions to the portfolio of international customers in the area of B2B and B2C.

On 29th Jun. 2000, it floated a wholly owned subsidiary- Sonata Information Technology, to take over the Indian operations business of Sonata comprising of Product Reselling. It has also picked up 26% ie. 8.33 million Fully Convertible Preferred stocks in SpinAway eBusiness Solutions Inc. USA for $2 mln funded entirely from internal resources.

The company has achieved Level 5, the highest possible through an assessment on the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) Based Appraisal or Internal Process Improvement (CBA-IPI) developed at Carnegia Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute (SEI). During 2001-02 the company has invested Rs.106.80 lacs in Offshore Digital Services Inc (USA),whereby the ODSI became a subsidiary of Sonata. It has also invested US$ 6.5 Mn in 65,00,000 shares of Series A Redeemable Preferred Stock of ODSI.

The company has been expanding its customized vertical focused family of frameworks,SONNETS,on Microsoft Business Solutions-Axapta and Microsoft Business Solutions CRM.The first wave of solution frameworks is targeted to address the unique requirements of the Consumer Packaged Goods(CPG) and Independent Software Vendors(ISV) verticals. With this expansion of SONNETS,the company is in business applications space.

During 2004-05 the company has setup its 3rd development center in Bangalore and this was setup as a new STP unit with a total area of 35000 sq. feet with a capacity of almost 300 people. Further the company has setup a new STP unit in Hyderabad with a total area of 78,000 Sq.feet with a capacity of 800 people.

During October 2004 the company has setup Sonata Software GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary in Frankfurt, Germany. In October 2005 the company has setup a offshore development center for Cramer and under this agreement the company will provide development,testing, product maintenance and customer support services to Cramer.

In 2006, the company has set-up new Campus/Development Center in Poppalguda, Hyderabad. The Andhra Pradesh Government was allotted eight-acre land at poppalguda, Hyderabad.

During the year 2014, the Company was fittingly named Hybris' Most Innovative Partner and Microsoft named it the Azure Cloud Partner of the year. While strengthening existing partnerships with large firms such as Microsoft and IBM, the Company forged new partnerships with leading technology firms and solution providers such as StorSimple, Moovweb etc. As a part of expanding near shore service delivery capabilities the Company opened a Development Centre facility at Redmond, USA and has also opened operations in Australia.

During the FY 2015, the Company's application for closure of Sonata Technology Solutions (India) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary Company in India under Fast Track Exit Scheme was approved.

In FY15, the Company had through its wholly owned subsidiary Company Sonata Software North America Inc., acquired a strategic controlling stake in Rezopia Inc., the first cloud based end to end reservations, contracts, operations and distribution management systems platform for travel providers, headquartered in California, USA. The acquisition was aimed at enabling both Companies to leverage mutual strengths and opportunities in serving emerging IT solution needs in the global Travel industry. In a separate transaction, the Company also acquired the businesses of Xyka India Pvt. Ltd., which is a primary service provider to Rezopia's platform.During the FY 2015, the Company has given Inter Corporate Deposits at prevailing bank lending rate to its wholly owned subsidiary, Sonata Information Technology Ltd. for meeting working capital requirements. The maximum amount outstanding at any point of time during the FY has been 97.35 crores.

During the FY 2016, the Company had given Inter Corporate Deposits at prevailing bank lending rate to its Wholly owned Subsidiary, Sonata Information Technology Ltd. for meeting its working capital requirements. The balance outstanding as on 31st March 2016 is Rs. 1.9 crores. The maximum amount outstanding at any point of time during the Financial Year has been Rs. 99.6 crores. Also, the Company has given Corporate Guarantees on behalf of its Subsidiaries, namely Sonata Software North America Inc., USA., and Sonata Information Technology Limited, India worth Rs 59.6 and 104.4 crores respectively for facilitating its business needs.The Company finalised its new 32,000 Sq Ft. facility in Hyderabad in FY 2017.

During the FY 2017, the Company had given Inter Corporate Deposits at prevailing bank lending rate to its Wholly owned Subsidiary, Sonata Information Technology Ltd. for meeting its working capital requirements. The maximum amount outstanding at any point of time during the FY has been 88.8 crores. Also, the Company has given Corporate Guarantees on behalf of its Subsidiaries, namely Sonata Software North America Inc., USA., and Sonata Information Technology Limited, India worth Rs 58.37 and 102.28 crores respectively for facilitating its business needs.

During FY2018, the Company had given Inter Corporate Deposits at prevailing bank lending rate to its Wholly Owned Subsidiary, Sonata Information Technology Limited for meeting its working capital requirements. The maximum amount outstanding at any point of time during the Financial Year has been Rs. 12,105 lakhs. Also, the Company has given Corporate Guarantees on behalf of its Subsidiaries, namely Sonata Software North America Inc., USA., and Sonata Information Technology Limited, India worth Rs 5865 and 10267 crores respectively for facilitating its business needs.

During the FY2019,the Company acquired Scalable Data Systems Pty Ltd., an Australian Company and also acquired Sopris Systems LLC., a Delaware Company through Sonata Software North Amercia Inc., a Wholly Owned Subsidiary of the Company.

The company named a member of the prestigious 2018/2019 Inner Circle for Microsoft Dynamics. The company also bagged 'Best Marketer of the year 2018' at SAP India Partner Summit. Zinnov Zones 2019 rates Sonata Software as a Leader in Engineering R&D Services in Enterprise Software and Consumer Software categories.

During the FY2020,the Company incorporated an wholly-owned subsidiary company named Sonata Software Solutions Limited in India. The Company also entered into an agreement with SemiCab, Inc. a US based Company to acquire upto 17% stake through Sonata Software North America Inc., a wholly-owned Subsidiary of the Company. The Company also acquired GAPbuster Ltd, a UK registered Company through Sonata Europe Limited, a wholly-owned Subsidiary of the Company.

The company positioned as an Aspirant by Everest Group in 'Application Transformation Services PEAK MatrixT Assessment 2020' report.

Sonata Europe Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sonata Software Limited has acquired 100% stake in GAPbuster Ltd, a UK registered Company on April 20,2020 for an investment of USD 4.8 million (approximately Rs 3,632 lakhs) (net of working capital) including USD 0.5 million (approximately Rs 378 lakhs) which is deferred consideration payable on the completion of one year.

In 2021, the Company integrated the newly acquired company, GAPbusters Limited (GBW), headquartered in Melbourne, a leading global player in the Customer Experience (CX) domain serving renowned brands. In March 2021, it launched CXe', a unique enhanced integrated CX management solutions developed using the Platformation' approach.

During the Financial Year 2020-21, Company entered into an agreement with Treeni Sustainability Solutions Inc., to acquire upto 24% stake through Sonata Software North America Inc., a wholly-owned Subsidiary of the Company.

In 2022, the Company acquired San-Jose based Encore Software Services, a company with expertise in User experience, Data Insights, and real time collaboration services to clients in the Healthcare, Supply-chain / Logistics and ISV industries.

During 2022-23, the Company redefined focus across Verticals and Markets to drive Modernization. It verticalized the US region towards the key industry verticals - Telecom, Media, and Technology (TMT); Retail & Manufacturing; Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI); and Healthcare and Life Sciences (HLS). In Europe, it expanded business in the Nordic region. It made investments n key GTMs - Cloud, Data, Dynamics, Managed Services, and Contact Centre on Modernization and Automation into the key Markets. It increased the investments in Generative AI including MS partnership with OpenAI.

In 2023, the Company acquired Quant Systems Inc., a Texas (USA) based IT Solutions and Software company, which provided access to a rich talent pool of Salesforce experts, data privacy specialists, and engineering professionals in the US. It strengthened the Indian business, focusing on gaining market share in Cloud-Data modernization. It acquired the Microsoft Business Applications 2022/2023 with 13 more Advanced Specializations.

During FY 2022-23, Company incorporated a step-down subsidiary in Mexico named Sonata Latin America, S. DE R.L. DE C.V. The Interactive Business Information Systems Inc. (IBIS, Inc.) in the US was merged with Sonata Software North America Inc., (SSNA) a wholly owned Subsidiary of the Company effective December 13, 2022. Sonata Latin America S. DE R.L. DE C.V. was incorporated in Mexico w.e.f May 05, 2022. The Branch Office of the Company was opened in New Jersey, USA and made operational during the year 2023. It opened New Development Center in Mexico, Ireland and Costa Rica.