SEC Company Response from WNS (HOLDINGS) LTD (WNS) (CIK 0001356570) (WNS) — Apr 22, 2008
WNS (HOLDINGS) LTD (WNS) (CIK 0001356570)
Date: April 22, 2008 · CIK: 0001356570 · Accession: 0001145549-08-000692
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
Referenced dates: April 8, 2008, February 28, 2008
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WNS (Holdings) Limited
LATHAM
& WATKINS llp
9 Raffles Place
#42-02 Republic Plaza
Singapore 048619
Tel:
+65.6536.1161 Fax: +65.6536.1171
www.lw.com
FIRM / AFFILIATE OFFICES
Barcelona
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Jersey
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York
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April 22, 2008
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Valley
Milan
Singapore
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Washington,
D.C.
File
No. 041135-0005
VIA EDGAR AND FACSIMILE (202) 772 9210
Securities and Exchange Commission
Division of Corporation Finance
Mail Stop 4561
100 F Street, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20549
Attention:
Kathleen Collins, Accounting Branch Chief
Jennifer Thompson, Staff Accountant
Evan Jacobson, Staff Attorney
David Orlic, Special Counsel
Re:
WNS (Holdings) Limited
Form 20-F for the Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2007 filed June 26, 2007
Form 6-K filed February 8, 2008
File No. 1-32945
Ladies and Gentlemen:
We are counsel to WNS (Holdings) Limited, a company organized under the laws of Jersey,
Channel Islands (the “Company”).
On behalf of the Company, set forth below is the Company’s responses to the Staff’s comment
letter dated April 8, 2008. For the Staff’s convenience, the Staff’s comments are set forth in
italics before each response.
Form 20-F for the Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2007
Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects, page 35
1.
We note from your response to our prior comment 3 that your customer contracts do not
generally provide for a committed minimum volume of business or committed amounts of revenues,
and your clients only provide you with one to three month rolling forecasts of their service
requirements. Please disclose this information to your readers as part of your discussion of
your contracts, as we believe this provides your readers with useful information about the
customary terms of your contracts.
The Company notes the Staff’s comment and advises the Staff that in its future filings on
Form 20-F, it will include the requested disclosure in its discussion of its contracts.
April 22, 2008
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LATHAM
& WATKINS llp
The Company advises the Staff that it will include the additional disclosure below in
“— Overview — Revenue — Our Contracts” of the MD&A discussion in its annual report on
Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008.
“Our clients customarily provide one to three month rolling forecasts of their service
requirements but our contracts with our clients do not generally provide for a committed
minimum volume of business or committed amounts of revenues.”
Form 6-K filed February 8, 2008
Financial Statements for the Nine Months Ended December 31, 2007
Note 13 — Transfer of Delivery Center to AVIVA
2.
We note from your response to our prior comment 18 that you believe the transfer of your Sri
Lanka facility to AVIVA through the transfer of your ownership interest in WNS CS
is analogous to a termination of a contract with a client and not a discontinued business
operation of a component of an entity as defined in paragraph 41 of SFAS 144. However, we also
note that you disclosed revenues and pre-tax profit generated from this contract in your Form
6-K, which indicates that you are able to clearly distinguish the operations and cash flows of
this Sri Lanka facility from the rest of your company. Given the above, please explain to us
in more detail how you determined that this facility was not a component of an entity as
defined in paragraph 41 of SFAS 144. Your response should identify the lowest level at which
you clearly distinguish operations and cash flows, and if necessary, should reconcile this
level to the fact that you appear to separately track the operations and cash flows of your
WNS CS subsidiary.
The Company advises the Staff that it has concluded that the operations of WNS CS were not a
component of an entity as defined in paragraph 41 of SFAS 144 as they were not clearly
distinguishable from the rest of its BPO operations. Under paragraph 41 of SFAS 144, a
component of an entity comprises operations and cash flows that can be clearly
distinguished, operationally and for financial reporting purposes, from the rest of the
entity.
Operationally, the Company managed WNS CS as part of its WNS Global BPO segment. WNS CS was
established as a separate legal entity at the request of AVIVA solely to facilitate a smooth
transfer to AVIVA in the event that AVIVA exercised its option to terminate the contract and
move the business processes provided by the Company in-house. If the Company was not under a
contractual obligation to AVIVA to set up a separate legal entity to perform the AVIVA
contract, the Company would have performed the AVIVA contract through its other subsidiary
in Sri Lanka, WNS Global Services Private Limited (“WNS Sri Lanka”). Other than the
AVIVA contract, the Company provided BPO services in Sri Lanka through WNS Sri Lanka. The
operations of WNS CS were not clearly distinguishable from the BPO operations of WNS Sri
Lanka or those of the rest of the Company. The Company believes the following factors
support this determination:
April 22, 2008
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LATHAM
& WATKINS llp
•
WNS Sri Lanka provides services to its clients under contractual agreements
that are similar to the contractual agreement between the Company and AVIVA, except for
the option to purchase the WNS CS Sri Lanka business that the Company had granted to
AVIVA.
•
The BPO services provided by WNS CS under the AVIVA contract are similar in nature,
bear similar degrees of risk and exhibit similar economic characteristics to other BPO
contracts entered into by the Company, including those performed by WNS Sri Lanka.
•
The degree of utilization of labor and capital per unit of process are generally
consistent across the BPO contracts entered into by the Company, including through WNS
CS and WNS Sri Lanka.
•
The Company utilizes similar WNS technology and telecommunications infrastructure
across its BPO businesses, including those conducted through WNS CS and WNS Sri Lanka.
•
Prior to the transfer of WNS CS to AVIVA, WNS Sri Lanka and WNS CS were located in
the same building under a single lease agreement. Upon the transfer of WNS CS to
AVIVA, the original lease agreement was terminated and separate lease agreements were
entered into in respect of the premises occupied by WNS Sri Lanka and WNS CS,
respectively. The floor space allocated to WNS CS under the new lease agreement
following its transfer to AVIVA was however less than that initially allocated to WNS
CS under the original lease agreement.
•
Not all of the employees of WNS CS were transferred to AVIVA. Some employees
remained with the Company at their option and other employees of the Company who were
previously not part of the operations of WNS CS were transferred to AVIVA at their
option. Certain employees in Sri Lanka were interchangeable between WNS CS and WNS Sri
Lanka.
From a cash flows perspective, the Company advises the Staff that the identifiable cash
flows associated with WNS CS are not largely independent of the cash flows of the Company’s
total operations in Sri Lanka and, to a lesser extent, the rest of the WNS Global BPO
segment due to the significance of shared functions and services within the Company, as
outlined below:
•
Corporate office expenses including salaries and related costs of the Company’s
senior management who invested time performing services related to the BPO operations
of WNS CS are not allocated to WNS CS.
•
Because WNS CS and WNS Sri Lanka were located in the same building, they shared
common costs, which included rental expenses for the shared premises, utility charges
and finance and administration support expenses. Each of WNS CS and WNS Sri Lanka has
to prepare standalone financial statements to satisfy their respective local statutory
reporting obligations. For purposes of
April 22, 2008
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LATHAM
& WATKINS llp
satisfying their respective reporting obligations, such shared common costs were
allocated between WNS CS and WNS Sri Lanka.
•
Services of certain managers employed by WNS Sri Lanka also supported the operations
of WNS CS. Similarly, for purposes of satisfying their respective local statutory
reporting obligations, the salaries and related costs of such managers were allocated
between WNS CS and WNS Sri Lanka.
•
The final allocation of costs between WNS CS and WNS Sri Lanka were undertaken
annually and at the effective date of transfer of WNS CS to AVIVA to fulfill their
respective local statutory reporting obligations.
Furthermore, the Company evaluated the significance of the AVIVA contract performed by WNS
CS as compared to its business as a whole and concluded that the revenues and pre-tax
profits attributable to WNS CS were not quantitatively or qualitatively material. The
revenue and pre-tax profits attributable to the AVIVA contract are as follows:
•
Revenues from the AVIVA contract represented 1.9%, 3.3% and 1.1% of the Company’s
total revenues for the years ended March 31, 2007, 2006 and 2005, respectively.
•
Revenues from the AVIVA contract represented 1.8% and 2.7% of the Company’s total
revenues for the three months ended June 30, 2007 and 2006, respectively.
•
Revenues from the AVIVA contract represented 0.6% and 1.7% of the Company’s total
revenues for the nine months ended December 31, 2007 and 2006, respectively. WNS CS
was transferred to AVIVA with effect from July 2, 2007.
•
Pre-tax profits from the AVIVA contract represented 1.6% and 4.0% of the Company’s
consolidated pre-tax profits for the nine months ended December 31, 2007 and 2006,
respectively. The pre-tax profits from the AVIVA contract are based on the pre-tax
profits of WNS CS reported in its standalone financial statements prepared for local
statutory reporting purposes. The Company did not evaluate WNS
CS’ pre-tax profits on a regular basis throughout the year.
•
The reporting of the transfer of the AVIVA contract as part of continued operations
did not impact the Company’s trend in revenue or earnings, its compliance with
regulatory or other contractual requirements, nor did it have any impact on the
Company’s incentive compensation plans.
For the foregoing reasons, the Company believes that the operations of WNS CS were not
clearly distinguishable from its BPO operations in Sri Lanka and from its BPO operations
elsewhere and the lowest level at which cash flows are clearly distinguishable is with
respect to revenue and certain direct costs such as payroll within
the WNS Global BPO segment. The Company believes that
it would be impractical for it to view each contract with its clients as a component of an
entity as defined in paragraph 41 of SFAS 144.
April 22, 2008
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LATHAM
& WATKINS llp
General
3.
The Tandy representations must come directly from the Company, not from your counsel on
behalf of the Company. Please provide these representations in a separate letter from the
Company in tandem with your next response, if the response is submitted by your counsel.
The Company supplementally provides the Staff, as requested, in Annex A hereto its
representation letter.
* * * * *
Please contact the undersigned at (011) 65-6437-5406 if you have any questions or require
additional information concerning the foregoing.
Very truly yours,
/s/ Min Yee Ng
Min Yee Ng
of LATHAM & WATKINS LLP
cc:
Ramesh Shah
Chairman of the Board
WNS (Holdings) Limited
Neeraj Bhargava
Group CEO
WNS (Holdings) Limited
Alok Misra
Group CFO
WNS (Holdings) Limited
Kapil K. Jain
Ernst & Young
Annex A
WNS
Extending Your Enterprise
VIA EDGAR AND FACSIMILE
(202) 772 9210
Securities and Exchange Commission
Division of Corporation Finance
Mail Stop 4561
100 F Street, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20549
Attention: Kathleen Collins, Accounting Branch
Chief
Jennifer Thompson, Staff Accountant
Evan Jacobson, Staff Attorney
David Orlic, Special Counsel
April 22, 2008
LONDON
IPSWICH
NEW YORK
COLOMBO
GURGAON
MUMBAI
NASHIK
PUNE
Re:
WNS (Holdings) Limited
Form 20-F for the Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2007 filed June 26, 2007
Form 6-K filed February 8, 2008
File No. 1-32945
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Reference is made to the Company’s responses to the Staff’s comment letters dated February 28,
2008 and April 8, 2008. The Company hereby acknowledges that:
•
the Company is responsible for the adequacy and accuracy of the disclosure in the
filing;
•
Staff comments or changes to disclosure in response to Staff comments do not
foreclose the Commission from taking any action with respect to the filing; and
•
the Company may not assert Staff comments as a defense in any proceeding initiated
by the Commission or any person under the federal securities laws of the United
States.
Very truly yours,
WNS (Holdings) Limited
By:
/s/ Alok C. Misra
Name:
Alok C. Misra
Title:
Group CFO
WNS (Holdings) Ltd
22
Grenville Street
St. Heller, Jersey
Channel
Islands
www.wnsgs.com