In fiscal 1999, Polaris earned a net profit of Rs 14.64 crore. On a pre-issue paid up capital of Rs 13.5 crore, the earning per share works out to Rs 10.8. This discounts the offer price of Rs 210 by a multiple of 19.37. The response to the SQL IPO reflects the unabated investor appetite for software issues. And, now joining the premium race is Polaris, who seems to have gone a step further by fixing the premium close to the upper band of Rs 220. Compared with the other software IPOs including thatof KPIT, Sonata Software, SQL Star International and Cybermate Infotech, Polaris' IPO is high-priced. All these IPOs were priced at a P/E of below 13. Sonata and KPIT charged a premium of Rs 80 each, while SQL Star offered shares at a premium of Rs 45. Cybermate IPO was a par issue.

Polaris is a global software house providing customised IT solutions to several MNC clients across 20 countries. The company offers outsourcing solutions in the areas of banking, financial services, transportation and ERP. The company has been involved in 140 projects since inception. Revenues have grown to Rs 60.54 crore in fiscal 1999 at a CAGR of 165 per cent since fiscal 1994 and profits have grown at 111 per cent. Polaris has developed four products: Super Store XS (an end to end retail industry software); Web Hotline (a web based query logging and resolution system); INSPIRE (a software for integrated software process improvement and regulation); NTerprise (a software to help small and medium businesses automateoperations.

Polaris has branded its outsourcing offering under ENTITY, a relationship product that focuses on providing 80 per cent of the solution from its offshore software development centres. The company is augmenting its facilities by building a 85,000 sq feet software technology park at Navalur in Chennai which will house 800 software professionals. The software park will be set up by October 1999. In addition, Polaris has new COM facility (9,000 sq ft) and is also planning an additional facility of 30,000 sq ft at Noida.

For fiscal 1999, total income shot up by 95 per cent to Rs 60.54 crore against Rs 31.13 crore in 1998. A major portion of the turnover came from exports (Rs 51.8 crore), which have grown by 108 per cent y-o-y basis. Operating profit shot up by an impressive 164 per cent to Rs 17.3 crore. In tandem, net profit zoomed by 210 per cent to Rs 14.6 crore. The company is projecting a major turnaround in its performance for fiscal 2000. On a total income of Rs 160 crore (Rs 60 crore for1999), the projected net profit is Rs 30 crore.