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Announced last week, DXC Technology’s latest annuals results drew a line under another twelve months of falling revenue for the US IT services giant (see: Another year of decline as revenue slides at DXC). On the plus side, DXC’s latest full-year financials also revealed a small profit of $86m, which was a welcome improvement on the $566m loss reported for the previous fiscal. However, despite the fact that DXC has now seen its turnover shrink every year since its formation in 2017, the latest numbers will have made disappointing reading for DXC’s long suffering investors, as FY24 was meant to have been the year when the much vaunted “pivot to growth” would materialise.
As recently as May 2023 DXC Technology had been forecasting that the company would be moving into organic revenue growth by the end of the fiscal. However, the twelve months ended 31 March 2024 (FY24) saw DXC’s headline global revenue fall by 5.3% to $13.67bn and by 4.1% on an organic basis (taking account of DXC’s divestments). Off the back of the latest contraction, the company once again downgraded its outlook and DXC is now guiding that FY25 full-year revenue is expected to decline by between 4% and 6%, with a possible decline of up to 8% in the first quarter of the current fiscal.
It was less than six months after a previous shock downgrade, that the DXC Technology Board announced that CEO and Chairman Mike Salvino had been replaced with immediate effect and that Raul Fernandez had been appointed as President and CEO on an interim basis. Alongside the company’s new CFO, Rob Del Bene, Fernandez (whose appointment was made permanent in February 2024) is now trying to rebuild the trust of the investment community and DXC’s various backers. The challenge of the job that is facing the duo is highlighted by DXC’s beleaguered share price, which is currently languishing below $16, having been trading above $20 before the latest earnings release and is a long way off its high of more than $96.
DXC Technology Share Price (22 May 2024)
Source: TechMarketView
Despite the latest fall in full-year revenue, and the negative outlook, DXC’s FY24 decline of 5.3% was an improvement on the 11.3% contraction experienced during FY23. In what was the first full quarter under the leadership of the company’s new CEO, DXC’s Q4 revenue declined by 5.7% to $3.39bn (down 4.9% on an organic basis). FY24 revenue from DXC’s Global Business Services division (GBS) was down 2% at $6.82bn whilst Global Infrastructure Services (GIS) revenue fell by 8.3% to $6.8bn. DXC’s segmented analysis for the latest fiscal revealed that the Insurance Software and BPO division provided something of a shining light, with revenue rising 3.3% to $1.54bn. Elsewhere, revenue from Cloud Infrastructure and ITO ($4.77bn), and Modern Workplace ($1.64bn) was down in both cases by around 9%. Applications revenue was down by 7% at $3bn, whilst Analytics and Engineering revenue ($2.2bn) and Security revenue ($433m) rose by around 1%.
Since it was created in 2017 from the merger of CSC and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Services (HPES), DXC Technology has been engaged in a wide-ranging global transformation. During this time, annual revenue has declined year on year from a starting point of $25bn and, by this measure, the company is just over half the size it once was. Many of the challenges that DXC has faced during this time have been well-documented and the organisation is now on its third CEO with investor dissatisfaction having culminated in the removal of Salvino in December 2023. Whilst DXC’s new CEO looks to be a solid appointment, he may face an even harder job than his predecessors, due to the legacy left to him by the previous incumbents.
DXC Technology Global Revenue and Net Income (last 7 years)
DXC Technology's new CEO brings with him more than three decades of experience scaling innovative and rapidly growing technology companies. Fernandez was the founder of Proxicom, which was acquired by Dimension Data (DiData) in 1999 and from 2000 to 2002, served as DiData’s North America CEO. Fernandez also served as Chairman and CEO for ObjectVideo, a developer of surveillance software and previously served was a member of the US President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Interestingly, Fernandez appears to have taken on the challenge of turning around DXC’s fortunes for a significantly lower remuneration that either of the company’s two former CEOs (Mike Lawrie and Mike Salvino).
Unfortunately for Fernandez (and DXC), the point at which the company’s declining legacy revenues are overtaken by rising income from new “digital” technologies has so far, steadfastly failed to materialise. This is despite the favourable forecasts and repeated assurances of both of the company’s previous CEOs. Over time, these regular assertions that DXC was set to "enter the growth phase" have worn thin. Whilst shifting global technology trends and the decline of the traditional infrastructure market has made turning around DXC’s fortunes a significant challenge, the support of the investment community has up to now been largely predicated on the assumption that good progress is being made.
DXC’s share price has previously only once been lower than its current value of around $16 (in March 2020) when the stock slumped to less than $12 per share. This was around six months after Fernandez’ predecessor, Mike Salvino replaced the Mike Lawrie as CEO. In the face of ongoing customer attrition, DXC went on to reveal a FY21 net loss of $5.4bn and revenue of $19.6bn, representing an annual decline of 5.7%, Intriguingly, whilst DXC’s current market capitalisation of $2.85bn is thirty-three times its latest net income, the figure equates to just 20% of the company’s annual revenue. Whilst there are clearly many other factors to consider, to the casual observer this would seem to suggest that the likelihood of an inorganic transaction may have increased significantly. Indeed, as investment markets have recovered recently, M&A is firmly back on the agenda as far as the technology sector as a whole is concerned.
As it has looked to “right-size” the organisation (whilst also reducing its indebtedness), DXC has over time divested a variety of its assets and operations. Meanwhile, during its relatively short existence, the organisation has so far also been subject to at least two high profile takeover bids. In 2021, French IT services vendor Atos proffered an estimated $10bn bid in what at the time was described as a “friendly approach”. After just over a month of behind-the-scenes discussions, Atos announced that its Board of Directors had unanimously determined not to pursue a potential deal. Late in 2022, DXC was again embroiled in takeover talks, this time with an un-named private equity organisation. Once again no formal proposal emerged from the talks and in March 2023 DXC issued a formal statement indicating that, financial challenges and market conditions had led to the termination of the discussions.
Despite its travails, DXC remains a major player in the global technology market, with a broad footprint and a comprehensive array of offerings. DXC’s current revenues of just under $14bn are clearly significant by any measure. As it looks to the future, like many of its peers, DXC has been increasingly focusing its attention on AI as this evolving opportunity garners widespread interest amongst clients and prospects. Fortunately for DXC, whilst it may not yet quite be “best in class” in terms of AI (as was predicted by former CEO, Mike Salvino), the company already has a strong foundation in this area (see: Road to AI: Market Readiness of leading suppliers). DXC currently has more than 350 active AI focused engagements globally and, in addition to its consulting capabilities within the Global AI Practice, bespoke AI development takes place within the Analytics and Engineering division. Meanwhile, DXC’s declared “AI First” policy means that the technology is being utilised widely with significant instances within Applications, Insurance Software and BPS, Security, Cloud Infrastructure and ITO, and Modern Workplace.
DXC recently appointed industry “big hitter” Howard Boville, to spearhead the company’s push around AI. As Executive Vice President and Global Lead of Applications Services and Artificial Intelligence, Boville reports directly to Fernandez. Boville has held senior leadership positions at some of the world's largest companies and most recently served as IBM’s Senior Vice President, for Cloud Platform, Technology LifeCycle Services (TLS) and Cybersecurity. Prior to his role at IBM, Boville served as CTO at Bank of America where he was responsible for the bank’s technology infrastructure and digital platforms.
Meanwhile, just last week, in another high-profile move, DXC announced that it is working with Microsoft and infrastructure specialist, Ferrovial, to jointly develop a generative AI platform called Quercus. The platform is designed to help organisations integrate secure, responsible AI solutions throughout their business operations to automate processes for improved profitability and efficiency. As global demand for AI spirals, and for generative solutions in particular, the potential of AI technology may perhaps in time hold the key to DXC’s pursuit of long-term stabilisation and profitable growth. However, with the company's revenue outlook for FY25 firmly rooted in negative territory, the positive impact of any potential "AI dividend" is unlikely to be seen overnight.
Posted by Jon C Davies at '17:50'
