Globant seeks to double sales
Globant, the Argentina-based software development company that floated on the New York Stock Exchange in July 2014, is targeting very rapid growth. CEO Martín Migoya told the Reuters news agency that the company is aiming for 25% annual revenue growth, and hopes to double its current US$250m per annum turnover within the next four to five years. Sales last year were worth US$200m, and Migoya says he expects them to total US$249m this year. Migoya has always insisted that Globant relies on skilled and creative software specialists and a growing global network, and as such is not constrained by Argentina’s short-term financial and macroeconomic difficulties. In the Reuters interview, he said that Globant was relying on organic growth, although it did not rule out more acquisitions. Its last acquisition was in May, when it took over an India-based software producer, Clarice Technologies. Globant now employs a staff of 4,500 in nine countries and its client list includes Google, LinkedIn, JWT, and Coca-Cola.
Telefónica – we can still grow in Brazil
Spanish telecoms group Telefónica can still grow in Brazil despite the recession, company director José María Álvarez-Pallete stated at the end of August. Álvarez-Pallete noted that both the mobile brand Vivo and the recently acquired broadband player GVT had managed to increase market share in a difficult market. He added that the depreciation of the Brazilian Real had not neutralised Telefónica’s growth in Brazil, stressing that “although we don’t think the economy will help us, the trend of our business in the country will be positive”. Operationally, the company’s biggest challenge had been to stabilise the fixed line business in São Paulo; with this now largely achieved, Telefónica is in a position to grow nationally and reap the benefits of synergies between Vivo and GVT, Álvarez-Pallete emphasised.
Moody’s says regional corporates paying bills more slowly
As a result of slower growth across the region, and the recession in Brazil, Latin American companies are paying their bills more slowly, according to the ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service. Its calculation of late payments by speculative grade companies in the region rose to 4.2% in the 12 months to June 2015, up from 3.1% in the comparable year-earlier period. Eight of ten overdue payments monitored by Moody’s were happening in Brazil, where GDP slumped by 1.9% in Q215. By sector, they were concentrated in the industrial and construction sectors, and involved companies like OAS and Sare Holding. As of June, Moody’s rated 348 corporate debt securities across 21 Latin American countries. It said that in the year to June, it had issued more ratings downgrades than upgrades for those companies.
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