Globant S.A. (NYSE:GLOB) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Ashwin Shirvaikar: Understood. Understood. And the second question is on margins. And I think through the first half one, you had mentioned that margins should improve through the course of the year. The margin range is still sort of the kind of — I think at the top end is a little bit lower than before. Could you talk a little bit about the specific investments that you’re having to make in the current environment? And is this for the purpose of supporting the significantly higher growth rate? Or is there a pricing component? What’s exactly going on?

Juan Urthiague: Look, if it hasn’t been for the recent changes in the FX market, we would have seen a nice improved, I would say, 1.5% to — probably around 1.5 percentage points of improvement. But if you look at what is happening in Latin America, especially Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Peru, the appreciation of the US dollar has gone anywhere between 5% to 15% in just two months. And that has a direct impact on our cost base in US dollars, and therefore, it has an implication on the margins. So yes, as you said, the first half of the year, we were expecting actually — we were doing a lot of things, but — and we were expecting a meaningful improvement for the second half of the year. That now has come down a little bit, that expectation because of the very recent appreciation of the US dollar.

Yes, we are — as always, we keep on investing on growth — we keep on investing in expansion. And actually, the growth levels that we are putting out are a very good indication of that strategy, well above the rest of the industry. But as you pointed out, on the margin front, we are seeing some headwind coming from some FX in Latin America.

Ashwin Shirvaikar: Understood. Thank you.

Patricia Pomies: Thank you.

Martin Migoya: Thank you, Ashwin.

Juan Urthiague: Thank you, Ashwin.

Arturo Langa: Thank you, Ashwin. Our next question comes from Mayank Tandon from Needam. Mayank, your line is open.

Mayank Tandon: Oh, great. Thank you so much, Arturo. Well, first congrats on the quarter and very impressive relative to your peers, so I wanted to ask you in terms of 2024, I think Juan you said, you already are thinking about ’24, so given the exit rate of the fourth quarter, when we do the math on the easy comps, is it reasonable to expect maybe a return to 20% growth by 2024?

Juan Urthiague: Yeah. Look, that’s what the math — the math is saying. Of course, it’s still early, and we will provide — we will be providing formal guidance at the beginning of 2024 in February. But you know, clearly, one thing is to get into next year, we are seeing sequential growth and a very different thing is when you are seeing decreases, right? So, we are optimistic about next year. We are optimistic about how deals are shaping up, are getting closed, but, it’s I think still early to say, okay, it’s going to be [indiscernible] it’s going to be 15%, it’s going to be 22%, right? When you look at the market and our peers, they seem to be all in the single-digit numbers. I do believe that double-digit is okay, maybe you know, we need to get closer into the end of the year to see if what we are seeing right now is validated in the second half or if there is any change. But you know, so far, it’s looking good.

Mayank Tandon: Got it. And then just as a quick follow-up, in terms of Disney, what’s changing? Every item we look at news wise, it’s bad. So, could you just give us some color in terms of what’s changing at Disney for you? And should we expect flat trends from here or do you expect actual improvement in terms of sequential growth as we move through the second half of 2024? Thank you.

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