Mastek named supplier in UK govt’s £1.2 bn project; share zooms 17%

Shares of software & consulting company Mastek Ltd zoomed 16.6% to hit a day's high following the company’s inclusion among suppliers on the UK’s Ministry of Defence's (MOD) £1.2B digital and IT professional services (DIPS) framework.

Shares opened a gap down at ₹2,577.05 on the BSE but soon hit the day's high at ₹3,100.25, taking the company's m-cap to ₹8,631.01 crore.

At the time of filing the report at 2.30 pm, the company share was trading at ₹2,802.50, up 8.47% as compared to yesterday’s close. Around 0.32 lakh shares were changing hands on the counter against a two-week average of 3,201. The share has given a 6.25% return in the past week, while the one-month return is 6.84%. The six-month, year-to-date, and one-year return is 18.91%, 0.87% and 75.42%, respectively.

Mastek, in an exchange filing, says it has been awarded a place on "Lot 1: solution, enterprise & tech architecture, data, innovation, tech assurance, and knowledge & information management of the UK Ministry Of Defence’s (MOD) Digital and IT Professional Services (DIPS) framework. The company will also be a “subcontractor” for “Qinetiq Limited on Lot 2: Dev, Aps, UX, Dev Ops, Sys Design, and App Support, and on Lot 3: Cyber Security, Crypto, Sec Ops, and Integrated Systems”.

Notably, the Crown Commercial Service supports the public sector to achieve maximum commercial value when procuring common goods and services. In 2022/23, CCS helped the public sector achieve commercial benefits equal to £3.8bn, supporting world-class public services that offer the best value for taxpayers, the company says.

"The comprehensive DIPS framework will support and enable the MOD with its digital strategy in the areas of data, modern technology, cyber defence, and digital delivery of capability that is relevant, cost-competitive, and on time to meet the demands of Defence’s transformation objectives."

Mastek says the ‘DIPS Framework’ is aligned with the ongoing transformation objectives at “Defence Digital” and will allow the defence ministry an access to a wide range of industry skills through pre-defined terms and conditions. “It will help with a shorter time to market, provide improved delivery and reporting, and provide value for money. The DIPS framework has a budget of approximately £1.2bn over 4 years.”

Dean Richardson, Head of Digital Enablement at Mastek, said, “Being a supplier to the MOD through the DIPS framework is a fabulous opportunity to grow our already proven trusted relationship.”

Mastek has been a supplier to the defence ministry since 2017 and invests in developing their mission-critical capabilities in strategy, digital & cloud applications, architecture, security, identity management, DevSecOps using agile delivery models, and data exploitation.

The company’s net profit for the October-December quarter stood at ₹16.43 crore, up from ₹19.08 crore in the year-ago period. Its revenue came in at ₹97.54 crore vs ₹81.04 crore in the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal year.