Tech Mahindra still seems shy on sibling Satyam

I leafed through the investor presentation from yesterday’s Q3 results for telco-focused India-based IT/BP services player Tech Mahindra and had to wait till slide 14 for any mention of supposedly soon-to-be-integrated sibling, Mahindra Satyam (see Mahindra Satyam inching forwards). Two slides actually. No shouting from the rooftops there then!

There’s still some detritus from the ‘Raju scandal’ that led to the demise of ‘old’ Satyam back in 2009 (see here) that needs to be swept away. However, Tech Mahindra Executive Vice-chairman Vineet Nayyar is reported as saying that the ‘penultimate stage’ of the legal approval process for the integration should be complete in 2-3 weeks. I have no idea about the ‘ultimate’ stage.

To me it still looks like Tech Mahindra management (and for that matter, Mahindra Satyam management – some and the same) has yet to truly embrace the reality and the enormity of the task they have ahead of them. I understand that there are seemingly interminable legal processes that need to be observed, but these will eventually get sorted. Meanwhile I am left with the impression that management are more sucking on the integration bullet than biting it.

And just for the record, Tech Mahindra’s Q3 revenues grew by 14% yoy to $329m, 10% higher than the prior quarter. This included unspecified contributions from the recently acquired Hutchinson Global Services (see here) and mobile payments developer Comviva Technologies (see here).