Mascot board approves BPO arm plan

CIOL, IRIS

BANGALORE: Mascot Systems has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) that its board at its meeting held on March 7, 2003 has resolved to set up a subsidiary to enter into the BPO business.

The shares of the company closed at Rs 110.15, down 4.88 per cent from its previous close on Friday, March 7.

The company may go in for an acquisition of a medium sized established BPO firm to trigger its foray into this segment. Acquisitions have been a strong forte for Mascot with eJeeva and Aqua Regia under its belt. The Aqua Regia acquisition will be completed by April 2003.

Mascot forayed into China with a full fledged office in February as part of its year-long exercise to expand operations to new geographies. The company otherwise depends heavily on a single client, GE. This follows its foray into Germany and Australia.

Mascot primarily targets enterprise users with software solutions including business intelligence, ebusiness, ERP and mobile commerce. the area of application maintenance outsourcing, e-buiness, business intelligence, ERP, and mobile commerce.

The company which is going through a transition posted a 14 per cent increase in PAT at Rs 86.7 million over a revenue of Rs 977.1 million for the third quarter ending December 2002.